Trade-Offs between Species Conservation and the Size of Marine Protected Areas

Abstract Jennings, S. 2009. The role of marine protected areas in environmental management. – ICES Journal of Marine Science, 66: 16–21. Marine protected areas (MPAs) are one of several tools used to meet management objectives for the marine environment. These objectives reflect political and societal views, and increasingly reconcile fishery and conservation concerns, a consequence of common high-level drivers, such as the World Summit on Sustainable Development. The contribution of MPAs to meeting objectives should be assessed in conjunction with other tools, taking account of the management systems of which they are part. Many of the same factors determine the success of MPAs and other management tools, such as quality of governance and the social and economic situation of people using marine goods and services. Diverse legislation governs MPA designation. Designation could be simplified by prearranged and prenegotiated agreements among all relevant authorities. Agreements could specify how to make trade-offs among objectives, interpret scientific advice, ensure effective engagement among authorities and stakeholders, deal with appeals, and support progressive improvement. The jurisdiction and competence of fishery management authorities mean that they are well placed to contribute to the design, designation, and enforcement of MPAs. Their strengths include well-established procedures for accessing scientific advice, the capacity to work across multiple jurisdictions, experience with MPA management, and access to vessels and personnel for enforcement.

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Functionality and Effectiveness of Marine Protected Areas in Southeastern Brazilian Waters for Demersal Elasmobranchs

Frontiers in Marine Science ◽

10.3389/fmars.2021.694846 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 8 ◽

Author(s):

Thamíris C. Karlovic ◽

Renata R. Gomes ◽

Paulo C. Paiva ◽

Elizabeth A. Babcock ◽

June F. Dias

Keyword(s):

Protected Areas ◽

Functional Groups ◽

Relative Abundance ◽

Marine Protected Areas ◽

Community Dynamics ◽

Action Plan ◽

Management Strategies ◽

Species Conservation ◽

Northern Coast ◽

Anthropogenic Pressures

Ensuring the efficacy of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) requires that adequate management strategies be implemented according to the MPA’s objectives. Within the scope of species conservation, achieving MPA objectives demands understanding of the role played by MPAs for the target species. In 2014, Brazilian stakeholders and experts set the action plan for elasmobranchs’ conservation, which intended to create new protected areas and expand the existing ones. Nevertheless, more than 65% of Brazilian elasmobranch species are threatened by anthropogenic pressures such as fisheries and habitat loss. In addition, their ecological aspects are not well studied, which might jeopardize the success of the proposed actions. To assess the functionality and effectiveness of two no-take MPAs for sixteen demersal species, the Wildlife Refuge of Alcatrazes (WRA) and the Tupinambás Ecological Station (TES), we evaluated the community structure, space-time variations in functional diversity and changes in fishery indicators. Community dynamics were driven by inshore intrusion and time persistent effects of a cold and nutrient-rich water mass, the South Atlantic Central Water, which increased the relative abundance of species, functional groups, and overall diversity. Spatially, the heterogeneity of benthic habitats, due to the action of stronger waves in specific parts of the MPAs, reflects a diverse community of benthic invertebrates, explaining differences in relative abundance and similarities in space use by the functional groups. Regarding effectiveness, the MPAs make up a key network with the surrounding protection areas to support the ecosystem maintenance on the central and northern coast of the São Paulo state. The establishment of the TES has positively influenced the community throughout the years while the recent creation of the WRA may have promoted some improvements in fisheries indicators for a threatened guitarfish. We propose different functions of the Alcatrazes archipelago for each species and suggest some measures to enhance not only elasmobranch conservation but also the MPAs’ effectiveness.

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Spatial modelling of biodiversity conservation priorities in Portugal’s Montado ecosystem using Marxan with Zones

Environmental Conservation ◽

10.1017/s0376892919000249 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 46 (4) ◽

pp. 251-260 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Rute Pinto ◽

Paula Antunes ◽

Stefan Blumentrath ◽

Roy Brouwer ◽

Pedro Clemente ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Protected Areas ◽

Biodiversity Conservation ◽

Policy Design ◽

Land Use Changes ◽

Species Conservation ◽

Conservation Policy ◽

Conservation Priorities ◽

Opportunity Costs ◽

Trade Offs ◽

Environmental Measures

SummarySpatial models are increasingly being used to target the most suitable areas for biodiversity conservation. This study investigates how the spatial tool Marxan with Zones (MARZONE) can be used to support the design of cost-effective biodiversity conservation policy. New in this study is the spatial analysis of the costs and effectiveness of different agro-environmental measures (AEMs) for habitat and biodiversity conservation in the Montado ecosystem in Portugal. A distinction is made between the financial costs paid to participating landowners and farmers for adopting AEMs and the broader economic opportunity costs of the corresponding land-use changes. Habitat and species conservation targets are furthermore defined interactively with the local government agency responsible for the management of protected areas, while the costs of agro-forestry activities and alternative land uses are estimated in direct consultation with local landowners. MARZONE identifies the spatial distribution of priority areas for conservation and the associated costs, some of which overlap with existing protected areas. These results provide useful insights into the trade-offs between nature conservation and the opportunity costs of protecting ecologically vulnerable areas, helping to improve current and future conservation policy design.

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Ecosystem model predictions of fishery and conservation trade-offs resulting from marine protected areas in the East China Sea

Environmental Conservation ◽

10.1017/s0376892908004852 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 35 (2) ◽

pp. 137-146 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

HONG JIANG ◽

HE-QIN CHENG ◽

WILLIAM J.F. LE QUESNE ◽

HAI-GEN XU ◽

JUN WU ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Protected Areas ◽

East China Sea ◽

Marine Protected Areas ◽

Ecosystem Model ◽

East China ◽

Chinese Government ◽

Ecosystem Structure ◽

The East China Sea ◽

China Sea ◽

Trade Offs

SUMMARYThe East China Sea (ECS) supports a highly productive fishery and is rich in biodiversity, but economic development in China and peripheral countries has led to intensifying anthropogenic impacts in the ECS. In response to this the Chinese government has introduced a range of marine spatial management measures. A spatial ecosystem model (Ecospace) of the ECS was developed to examine (1) the likely nature of trade-offs between fishery and conservation goals resulting from the marine protected areas (MPAs) and (2) possible trade-offs within the fishery sector resulting from the MPAs. The results suggest that overall the fishery has benefited from all of the simulated MPAs, whereas, although they defy categorical interpretation, effects of the MPAs on biodiversity and ecosystem structure are variable. Simultaneous application of several metrics of ecosystem status indicates that the perceived effect of an MPA on ecosystem status can depend on which metrics for ecosystem status are used, and how these metrics are interpreted. The simulations indicate that a fisheries and conservation outcome beneficial to all is possible, but not guaranteed, with the creation of an MPA. Total landings and profitability are predicted to have increased as a result of each of the MPAs, albeit at the cost of reduced landings and profits to some sectors of the fishery. This study demonstrates the benefits of the additional information relating to biodiversity, ecosystem structure and within fishery dynamics available from spatial ecosystem models compared to the single species models typically used to examine MPA effects. However, the use of a more complex ecosystem model introduces additional uncertainty in model interpretation.

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Assessing trade-offs in large marine protected areas

PLoS ONE ◽

10.1371/journal.pone.0195760 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 13 (4) ◽

pp. e0195760 ◽

Cited By ~ 16

Author(s):

Tammy E. Davies ◽

Graham Epstein ◽

Stacy E. Aguilera ◽

Cassandra M. Brooks ◽

Michael Cox ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Protected Areas ◽

Marine Protected Areas ◽

Trade Offs

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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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Targeted, collaborative biodiversity conservation in the global ocean can benefit fisheries economies

10.1101/2021.04.23.441004 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

D. Scott Rinnan ◽

Gabriel Reygondeau ◽

Jennifer McGowan ◽

Vicky Lam ◽

Rashid Sumaila ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Ecosystem Services ◽

Protected Areas ◽

Biodiversity Conservation ◽

Marine Protected Areas ◽

Global Ocean ◽

Economic Losses ◽

Marine Biodiversity ◽

Collaborative Approach ◽

Trade Offs ◽

International Policies

AbstractMarine protected areas (MPAs) are key to averting continued loss of species and ecosystem services in our oceans, but concerns around economic trade-offs hamper progress. Here we provide optimized planning scenarios for global MPA networks that secure species habitat while minimizing impacts on fisheries revenues. We found that MPA coverage requirements differ vastly among nations, and that two-thirds of nations benefit economically from a collaborative approach. Immediate global protection of marine biodiversity habitat comes with losses of ~19% of total fisheries revenues, but international cooperation in concert with high seas protection improves economic losses for most countries, safeguards all species, and could save ~5B USD annually worldwide. Nations and fishery economies both share benefits from a coordinated approach to conserving marine biodiversity, with direct relevance to current international policies.

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