The key facts

  • About 200 scientists on roughly 15 vessels are surveying the marine environment of the Madeira archipelago
  • The southern side of the Desertas (a complete fishing ban) is being compared with the northern side (where fishing is partially allowed)
  • After its expansion in 2022, the Selvagens reserve covers about 2,600 sq. km — the largest in the North Atlantic

A major scientific expedition off the Desertas Islands

Off the Desertas Islands, a group of three uninhabited rocky islets about 40 kilometers southeast of Madeira, an international expedition has gathered, bringing together around 200 scientists aboard roughly 15 vessels. The expedition's flagship is the 70-meter sailing schooner Santa Maria Manuela. Participants are assessing the state of the archipelago's marine ecosystems and finding out how they can better withstand climate change. This is reported by euronews.

How the effect of protection is measured

The main method is a comparison of two zones: south of the Desertas, fishing is completely banned, while to the north it is still allowed in certain areas. Baited underwater cameras mounted on metal structures film fish at depths of 40–50 meters, and then data from protected and fished areas are compared. 'We place these cameras in marine protected areas, and then also in zones where fishing takes place, and compare the resulting data,' explained Jennifer Caselle of the Marine Science Institute at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Not just cameras: water DNA and rock temperature

The research is not limited to video recording: scientists collect water samples to detect traces of DNA from fish that may not have appeared on camera. In parallel, Rui Seabra, a 44-year-old researcher from the University of Porto, is attaching temperature sensors to rocks exposed at low tide, studying how crustaceans and sponges behave on sunlit and shaded areas. These data should help predict how marine biodiversity will respond to rising temperatures: 'We need to understand how biodiversity will be redistributed, which species will migrate where,' he explained.

Background: years of protection have already delivered results

Madeira has long been considered a pioneer in marine protection. In 1971, the authorities created a reserve around the Selvagens Islands to protect seabirds; after its expansion in 2022, it covers about 2,600 square kilometers and is the largest marine protected area in the North Atlantic. The reserve around the Desertas, established in the early 1990s, helped the colony of the Mediterranean monk seal — one of Europe's most vulnerable marine mammals — grow from eight individuals to 31. It is against this background that Juan Mayorga, a marine biologist with the National Geographic Society's Pristine Seas initiative, formulates the expedition's working hypothesis: 'As we protect this place year after year, the fish get bigger and produce more offspring. That is how protection works.'

Politics and field science

The expedition is taking place amid international attention to ocean protection, including the 17th Conference of the Parties on biodiversity in Yerevan. Expedition leader and scientific director of the Oceano Azul Foundation Emanuel Gonçalves acknowledges the role of such meetings in setting political priorities, but stresses that fieldwork cannot wait for them: 'We cannot wait. And science tells us that,' euronews quotes him as saying.