Atlas des Habitats des Ressources Marines de la Manche Orientale - CHARM II

Readers of our first CHARM I atlas will know that almost everything contained within the atlas was original work resulting from two years of intensive study of the Dover Strait by a dedicated and inter- disciplinary team working from bases on either side of the Channel. The present atlas has carried on this eminent precedent, though this time covering the whole of the eastern English Channel (figure 1) and widening considerably the thematic scope. We believe that readers of this current atlas will be impressed by both the breadth and depth of the information provided, and that therefore this content should be available for use in both a wide variety of fields and at various levels of interest (researchers, industries, statutory organisations, the wider public, etc). Within this copious document or on the Web site (www.ifremer.fr/charm), everyone can access this knowledge on the eastern English Channel, be it its regulations, environmental characteristics, biological richness, but also its exploitation, the food web (trophic network) and the tools to sensibly and hence durably manage this ecosystem. Amongst the original work that is here presented we would like to highlight a few aspects of it. Firstly, we believe that viewing fisheries activities from the fishers' perspective (chapter 5, section Fishing communities) is entirely original for this geographic area and possibly for any marine resource atlas. This was achieved by getting the fishers to tell their own stories of, what for them, is often their lifelong interest, an interest in which they have every reason to respect and to treat carefully. The development of trophic network models in the eastern English Channel (chapter 6) is also an innovative aspect of the project. Who eats whom? What are the interactions between species, with man, and which is the role of each in the ecosystem? This initial work highlights that each element (exploited or not, and of any size) of the ecosystem contributes significantly to the richness of this maritime zone. Any human intervention, be it small, can have direct or indirect consequences, of ecological and/or economical importance. Another innovative aspect of the project is the pilot study, presented in chapter 7, using a "marine spatial planning" tool. This work anticipates the needs, in 2009, in terms of tools to support decision-making for the conservation of marine biodiversity. The works initiated in this project will be further developed to allow for testing various scenarios based on varied conservation targets and a number of political and societal constraints. We have demonstrated that the CHARM atlas makes a huge contribution to knowledge about the east ern Channel, but the other valuable contribution made is towards the recognition that such holistic or multidisciplinary approaches are necessary to efficiently and durably manage global marine resources. A lot of work still needs to be carried out in the English Channel; the European Union (through INTERREG 4a) gave approval in 2009 to the extension of the project to the whole English Channel (figure 1). This will be achieved through widening CHARM III activities to investigate topics such as plankton, fishery bio-economics, the effects of climate change. With this added focus on the human or wider social dimension, then we believe that all parties who presently utilise the Channel will gain an enhanced appreciation of the need to work in harmony. The CHARM team is aware that this new challenge, rising from the complexity of the marine environment itself, represents a massive "field operation" to acquire a holistic knowledge of this maritime zone. Project outputs covering "La Manche" are expected in 2012.