Developing a framework for displaced fishing effort programs in marine protected areas

Compliance with spatial fishing regulations (e.g., marine protected areas, fishing closures) is one of the most important, yet rarely measured, determinants of ecological recovery. We used aerial observations of recreational fishing events from creel surveys before, during, and after 77 Rockfish Conservation Areas (RCAs) were established in British Columbia, Canada. There was no evidence of a change in fishing effort in 83% of the RCAs, and effort in five RCAs increased after establishment. Fishing effort in open areas adjacent to the RCAs declined with time and was higher than effort in the RCAs in all 3 years. Next, we used compliance data for 105 RCAs around Vancouver Island to model the drivers of compliance. Compliance was related to the level of fishing effort around the RCA, the size and perimeter-to-area ratio of RCAs, proximity to fishing lodges, and the level of enforcement. Noncompliance in RCAs may be hampering their effectiveness and impeding rockfish recovery. Education and enforcement efforts to reduce fishing effort inside protected areas are critical to the recovery of depleted fish stocks.

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Evidence that spillover from Marine Protected Areas benefits the spiny lobster (Panulirus interruptus) fishery in southern California

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-021-82371-5 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Hunter S. Lenihan ◽

Jordan P. Gallagher ◽

Joseph R. Peters ◽

Adrian C. Stier ◽

Jennifer K. K. Hofmeister ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Protected Areas ◽

Marine Protected Areas ◽

Spiny Lobster ◽

Fishing Effort ◽

Fishing Ground ◽

Catch Per Unit Effort ◽

Panulirus Interruptus ◽

The Status ◽

Larval Production ◽

And Behavior

AbstractMarine Protected Areas (MPAs) are designed to enhance biodiversity and ecosystem services. Some MPAs are also established to benefit fisheries through increased egg and larval production, or the spillover of mobile juveniles and adults. Whether spillover influences fishery landings depend on the population status and movement patterns of target species both inside and outside of MPAs, as well as the status of the fishery and behavior of the fleet. We tested whether an increase in the lobster population inside two newly established MPAs influenced local catch, fishing effort, and catch-per-unit-effort (CPUE) within the sustainable California spiny lobster fishery. We found greater build-up of lobsters within MPAs relative to unprotected areas, and greater increases in fishing effort and total lobster catch, but not CPUE, in fishing zones containing MPAs vs. those without MPAs. Our results show that a 35% reduction in fishing area resulting from MPA designation was compensated for by a 225% increase in total catch after 6-years, thus indicating at a local scale that the trade-off of fishing ground for no-fishing zones benefitted the fishery.

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Interactions of productivity, predation risk, and fishing effort in the efficacy of marine protected areas for the central Pacific

Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences ◽

10.1139/f05-114 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 62 (6) ◽

pp. 1320-1336 ◽

Cited By ~ 34

Author(s):

Steven J.D. Martell ◽

Timothy E Essington ◽

Bob Lessard ◽

James F Kitchell ◽

Carl J Walters ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Protected Areas ◽

Predation Risk ◽

Ocean Circulation ◽

Marine Protected Areas ◽

Fishing Effort ◽

Management Tool ◽

Central Pacific ◽

Positive Effects ◽

Negative Effect ◽

Catch Statistics

Ecospace biomass-dynamics models for the central North Pacific predict strong space-time variation in abundances of various trophic groups in relation to nutrient-driven patterns in primary production and circulation-driven concentration of production in convergence areas. The model predicts simple patterns in ecosystem organization and abundances along productivity gradients. Predicted patterns are robust to alternative assumptions about how mobile organisms may alter dispersal behavior in relation to local fitness (per capita gain from net food intake minus predation mortality). Large marine protected areas (MPAs) would be needed to rebuild endangered populations and counter impacts of growing fishing effort. We expected that increases in dispersal rate in response to lower food availability and higher predation risk would reduce efficacy of MPAs as a management tool. Instead, simulations indicated that this negative effect may generally be eliminated or even reversed by positive effects of fitness-maximizing behaviors. Interannual variability in ocean circulation can further reduce the efficacy of MPAs; therefore, the dynamic nature of pelagic environments should also be considered in MPA design. Anomalies in ocean circulation may shift productive areas relative to MPA location, resulting in increased fishing mortality and (or) misinterpretation of catch statistics.

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Causes of Mortality for Endangered Antillean Manatees in Cuba

Frontiers in Marine Science ◽

10.3389/fmars.2021.646021 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 8 ◽

Author(s):

Anmari Alvarez-Alemán ◽

Eddy García Alfonso ◽

James A. Powell ◽

Charles A. Jacoby ◽

James D. Austin ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Protected Areas ◽

Marine Protected Areas ◽

Fishing Effort ◽

Commercial Fishing ◽

Fishing Gear ◽

Illegal Hunting ◽

Lack Of Information ◽

Causes Of Mortality ◽

Antillean Manatees ◽

Causes Of Deaths

The Antillean manatee is categorized as endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature primarily due to its low abundance. Further declines in abundance are expected due to a group of human related threats that include illegal hunting, fatal interactions with fishing gear, increasing watercraft traffic, and pollution. The nature of current threats is not well described for every critical population of manatees. In particular, threats to manatees have not been documented or evaluated in a systematic manner in coastal waters surrounding Cuba, which is a major reason why plans specifically addressing conservation of manatees in Cuba have not been implemented. To address this lack of information, we assessed patterns in various threats by reviewing reports of stranded (alive or dead) and captured manatees, with some reports being historical and others consistently available since 2001. For 94% of the contemporary cases, carcasses of dead animals were reported; the remainder (6%) involved live manatees and subsequent efforts to rescue and rehabilitate them. Documented causes of mortality included poaching (38%), entanglement in fishing gear (10%), deaths of dependent calves (2.5%), and boat collisions (2.5%). The cause of death for the remaining 47% of reports could not be determined. Mortalities were highest in areas with intensive commercial fishing effort, and mortalities in marine protected areas indicated a need for improved management. These initial findings provide the first estimates of the magnitude of mortality of manatees in Cuba and yield valuable insights into the causes of deaths. The existence of intense and poorly regulated fishing in certain areas, including protected areas, represents a potentially significant threat to manatees. The effects and management of this activity, especially in habitats that are critical for manatees, merit further attention.

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MARINE CAPTURE FISHERIES POLICY FORMULATION AND THE ROLE OF MARINE PROTECTED AREAS AS TOOL FOR FISHERIES MANAGEMENT IN INDONESIA

Marine Research in Indonesia ◽

10.14203/mri.v30i0.422 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 30 ◽

pp. 33-45

Author(s):

D. G.R. Wiadnya ◽

P. J. Mous ◽

R. Djohani ◽

M. V. Erdmann ◽

A. Halim ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Protected Areas ◽

Marine Protected Areas ◽

Scientific Evidence ◽

Code Of Conduct ◽

Fishing Effort ◽

Policy Formulation ◽

Maximum Sustainable Yield ◽

Fish Stocks ◽

Fisheries Policy

The FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries states that conservation and management decisions for fisheries should be based on the best scientific evidence available. Studies show that most of Indonesia's capture fisheries are either full or over-exploited. However, the fishery sector is still expected to contribute to the increase of Indonesia's GNP through an increase in total catches. Furthermore, the current practice of using catch-effort data and Maximum Sustainable Yield models to inform Indonesia’s fisheries policies is flawed, putting sustainability and long-term profitability of Indonesia's fisheries at risk. In this paper, the authors argue that to ensure the survival of Indonesia's fish stocks and fisheries: fisheries policy must shift from development-oriented management towards management for sustainability. Furthermore, fisheries managers must accept that 'untapped resources' may not exist or cannot be exploited profitably, and that any transfer of fishing effort between fishing grounds may contribute to collapse of local fisheries. Also, fisheries managers should change the management paradigm from MSY models to eco-system based management, wherein Marine Protected Areas should play an important role.

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Lack of recreational fishing compliance may compromise effectiveness of Rockfish Conservation Areas in British Columbia

Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences ◽

10.1139/cjfas-2015-0205 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 73 (10) ◽

pp. 1587-1598 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

Dana R. Haggarty ◽

Steve J.D. Martell ◽

Jonathan B. Shurin

Keyword(s):

British Columbia ◽

Protected Areas ◽

Marine Protected Areas ◽

Fishing Effort ◽

Area Ratio ◽

Recreational Fishing ◽

Conservation Areas ◽

Fish Stocks ◽

Ecological Recovery ◽

Recovery Education

Compliance with spatial fishing regulations (e.g., marine protected areas, fishing closures) is one of the most important, yet rarely measured, determinants of ecological recovery. We used aerial observations of recreational fishing events from creel surveys before, during, and after 77 Rockfish Conservation Areas (RCAs) were established in British Columbia, Canada. There was no evidence of a change in fishing effort in 83% of the RCAs, and effort in five RCAs increased after establishment. Fishing effort in open areas adjacent to the RCAs declined with time and was higher than effort in the RCAs in all 3 years. Next, we used compliance data for 105 RCAs around Vancouver Island to model the drivers of compliance. Compliance was related to the level of fishing effort around the RCA, the size and perimeter-to-area ratio of RCAs, proximity to fishing lodges, and the level of enforcement. Noncompliance in RCAs may be hampering their effectiveness and impeding rockfish recovery. Education and enforcement efforts to reduce fishing effort inside protected areas are critical to the recovery of depleted fish stocks.

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Assessing fishery footprints and the trade-offs between landings value, habitat sensitivity, and fishing impacts to inform marine spatial planning and an ecosystem approach

ICES Journal of Marine Science ◽

10.1093/icesjms/fss050 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 69 (6) ◽

pp. 1053-1063 ◽

Cited By ~ 28

Author(s):

S. Jennings ◽

J. Lee ◽

J. G. Hiddink

Keyword(s):

Environmental Management ◽

Protected Areas ◽

Marine Protected Areas ◽

Spatial Planning ◽

National Policy ◽

Ecosystem Approach ◽

Fishing Effort ◽

Marine Spatial Planning ◽

Trade Offs ◽

Fishing Impacts

Abstract Jennings, S., Lee, J., and Hiddink, J. G. 2012. Assessing fishery footprints and the trade-offs between landings value, habitat sensitivity, and fishing impacts to inform marine spatial planning and an ecosystem approach. – ICES Journal of Marine Science, 69: 1053–1063. European and national policy commitments require further integration of fisheries and environmental management. We measured fishery footprints and assessed trade-offs between landings value, habitat sensitivity, and beam trawling impacts in UK territorial waters in the southern and central North Sea where marine spatial planning is underway and a network of Marine Protected Areas has been proposed. For fleets (UK and non-UK) and years (2006–2010) considered, total trawled area included extensive ‘margins’ that always accounted for a smaller proportion of total fishing effort and value (proportions investigated were ≤10, 20, or 30%) than their proportional contribution to total habitat sensitivity and trawling impact. Interannual and fleet-related differences in the distribution and intensity of trawling activity, driven by location choice and fisheries regulations, had more influence on overall trawling impacts than the exclusion of beam trawlers from a proposed network of Marine Protected Areas. If reducing habitat impacts is adopted as an objective of fisheries or environmental management, then the direct management of fishing footprints, e.g. by defining fishing grounds that exclude existing margins, can disproportionately reduce trawling impacts per unit effort or value.

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Effectiveness of a feedback management procedure based on controlling the size of marine protected areas through catch per unit effort

ICES Journal of Marine Science ◽

10.1093/icesjms/fsn106 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 65 (7) ◽

pp. 1216-1226 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Mikihiko Kai ◽

Kunio Shirakihara

Keyword(s):

Protected Areas ◽

Marine Protected Areas ◽

Fishing Effort ◽

Alternative Procedure ◽

Target Level ◽

Catch Per Unit Effort ◽

Short Term ◽

Unit Effort ◽

Management Procedure ◽

Population Dynamics Model

Abstract Kai, M., and Shirakihara, K. 2008. Effectiveness of a feedback management procedure based on controlling the size of marine protected areas through catch per unit effort. – ICES Journal of Marine Science, 65: 1216–1226. The effectiveness of a feedback management procedure using marine protected areas (MPAs) was investigated. This procedure does not control fishing effort, but it does increase the size of the MPA when the catch per unit effort (cpue) is below a predetermined target level and reduces the size when the cpue is above this level. Stability analyses of the approach, which consisted of a population dynamics model and a model to control MPA size, suggest that this procedure can lead to recovery of a depleted population and sustain that population at a predetermined target level, even when there is hyperstability (a non-linear relationship between population size and cpue). An alternative procedure using fishing effort instead of MPA size may also function well, although both procedures may need a long time for a depleted population to approach the target level. Performance of both procedures was examined using numerical simulations focused on system dynamics in the short term after management implementation. The procedure using MPA size was more effective at preventing population collapse. Simulations suggest that if this procedure starts from a desirable level of initial MPA size, it has advantages over the alternative procedure through creating speedier population recovery and a higher level of short-term catch.

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Industrial Fishing Near West African Marine Protected Areas and Its Potential Effects on Mobile Marine Predators

Frontiers in Marine Science ◽

10.3389/fmars.2021.602917 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 8 ◽

Author(s):

Guido Leurs ◽

Karin J. van der Reijden ◽

Sidi Yahya Cheikhna Lemrabott ◽

Iça Barry ◽

Diosnes Manuel Nonque ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Protected Areas ◽

Marine Protected Areas ◽

Buffer Zone ◽

Fishing Effort ◽

West African ◽

Marine Biodiversity ◽

Identification System ◽

Guinea Bissau ◽

Banc D’Arguin ◽

Banc D'arguin

Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are increasingly implemented to facilitate the conservation of marine biodiversity and key habitats. However, these areas are often less effective to conserve mobile marine species like elasmobranchs (i.e., sharks and rays). Industrial fishing near MPA borders possibly impacts vulnerable species utilizing these protected areas. Hence, we aimed to study spatiotemporal patterns of industrial fisheries near MPAs, in relation to the bycatch of elasmobranchs. Specifically, we analyzed the spatiotemporal fishing effort within the West African region, mapped fishing effort in the direct vicinity of the Parc National du Banc d’Arguin (PNBA, Mauritania) and the Bijagós Archipelago (BA, Guinea Bissau), and compared the seasonal overlap between elasmobranch bycatch and fishing effort near these MPAs. We combined Automatic Identification System (AIS) data and local fisheries observer data, and determined fishing effort for each gear type and compared this with bycatch of elasmobranchs. We found that industrial fishing effort was dominated by trawling, drifting longlines, and fixed gear types. Although no industrial fishing was observed within both MPAs, 72 and 78% of the buffer zones surrounding the MPAs were fished for the Banc d’Arguin and Bijagós, respectively. Within the Banc d’Arguin buffer zone, trawling and drifting longlines dominated, with longlines mainly being deployed in fall. In the Bijagós buffer zone, trawling and fixed gears were most prevalent. Fisheries observer data for Mauritania showed that elasmobranch catches increased during the most recent sampling years (2016–2018). Elasmobranch catches within the waters of Guinea Bissau peaked in 2016 and decreased in the following two years. Seasonal patterns in elasmobranch bycatch within the waters of both countries are likely caused by increased catches of migratory species. Catches of rays peaked in May and June for Mauritania, and in October for Guinea Bissau. Shark catches were highest in February and July in Mauritanian waters, and in May and October in the waters of Guinea Bissau. Our study indicates that industrial fisheries near the border of ecologically important MPAs may have potentially major implications for ecosystem functioning by the removal of (migratory) predatory species.

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Multispecies spatial assessment models for the British Columbia groundfish trawl fishery

Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences ◽

10.1139/f98-205 ◽

1999 ◽

Vol 56 (4) ◽

pp. 601-628 ◽

Cited By ~ 35

Author(s):

Carl J Walters ◽

Ramón Bonfil

Keyword(s):

British Columbia ◽

Protected Areas ◽

Gravity Model ◽

Marine Protected Areas ◽

Management Strategies ◽

Fishing Effort ◽

Catch Per Unit Effort ◽

Trawl Fishery ◽

Spatial Redistribution ◽

Quota Management

A multispecies spatial model is proposed for evaluation of trawl management strategies and tested with data from British Columbia groundfish. Minimum stock sizes are estimated for 16 species using spatial catch per unit effort data; these data indicate that only small proportions of most stocks are exposed to fishing at any time and that exchange rates of fish between the grounds and other habitats are rapid. A gravity model for spatial effort allocation predicts substantial side effects of marine protected areas or discarding of particular species on nontarget species/grounds due to redistribution of fishing effort. Multispecies, multiground delay-difference models are used in conjunction with the gravity model for spatial effort distribution to predict long-term population responses to various regulatory strategies. This simulation suggests that species composition and spatial structure of the fishery are changing slowly due to reduction in abundance of long-lived species, but rapid collapses of target stocks are unlikely due to spatial redistribution of effort in response to local declines. We question whether quota management (individual vessel quotas) can be safely implemented due to extreme uncertainty about current stock sizes and suggest that a better strategy may be to simply denominate fishing rights as individual effort quotas while providing protection for sensitive stocks through carefully placed marine protected areas.

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