Marine Protected Areas and Fisheries PDF

Marine Protected Areas and Fisheries What’s a marine protected area Names Marine parks, reserves or sanctuaries Primary purpose Protect marine biodiversity Natural experiments Secondary purposes Rebuild fisheries Provide climate resilience Sequester blue ca...

Marine Protected Areas and Fisheries What’s a marine protected area Names Marine parks, reserves or sanctuaries Primary purpose Protect marine biodiversity Natural experiments Secondary purposes Rebuild fisheries Provide climate resilience Sequester blue carbon IUCN zoning IUCN I/II - no access/ no exploitation IUCN III-VI – various forms of exploitation, also known as “partial protection” Why MPAs are needed: wildlife declines 25% Striped marlin 33% Yellowfin tuna 40% Shortfin mako 63% Whale shark 60% Blue shark 89% Hammerhead shark 95% Turtles Why MPAs are needed: fisheries declines 1980 onwards => industrial Peak Fish fishing accelerates 100% 1996 – we hit peak fish 95% 90% 33% of fisheries are unsustainable % Peak Catch 85% 80% Catch decreases of 694K kg 75% per year between 1996 - 2018 70% 65% 10s of billions lost to national 60% economies 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 Year adapted from Pauly and Zeller 2016 Nature Communications Why MPAs are needed: no where to hide 1950s t km-2 >300 0 2000s Tickler et al. 2018 Sci. Advances Why MPAs are needed: the Australian seascape 30% of Australia’s large fish are gone … in a decade1 > 20% of fish populations managed by the Australian Government are overfished, subject to overfishing or uncertain2 74-92% of some Queensland sharks …. gone over 5 decades3 1 Edgar et al. (2018) Aquatic Conservation 2 ABARES (2018) Fisheries Status Reports. 3 Roff et al. (2019) Communications Biology Why MPAs are needed: warming oceans Cheung et al. 2005. Biological Conservation Why MPAs are needed: industrialization Extensive oil and gas leases Seismic Platforms Vessel noise Oil spills What no-take MPAs do: coastal evidence Pre-Park Biodiversity outcomes Numbers up 166% Biomass up 466% Size up 28% Reef sharks 4-8 x more abundant Fisheries outcomes Revenue highest near boundaries Larval export from no-take MPAs Prize fish adjacent to MPAs Lester et al. (2009) Marine Ecol. Prog. Series McCook et al. (2010) PNAS Item Pre-Park Postdoc salary Pre-Sanctuary Inside Goñi et al (2010) Marine Ecol. Prog. Series Harrison et al. (2012) Current Biology Roberts et al. (2001) Science What no-take MPAs do: resilience Recovery from bleaching Pre-Park Pre-Sanctuary Mellin et al. (2016) Ecology Letters What no-take MPAs do: resilience Recovery from bleaching Fewer crown of thorn starfish outbreaks Reduced coral disease … and more as yet unknown Pre-Park Pre-Sanctuary Mellin et al. (2016) Ecology Letters What no-take MPAs do: carbon sequestration Atwood et al. (2015) Nature Climate Change The rise of very large MPAs 30 by 30 High Seas Protection IUCN I and II Proposed EEZ The expectation The “evidence” Web of Knowledge search on “marine protected area” or “marine reserve” or “MPA” or “marine park” 400 350 Vast No. Publications Per Year 300 250 Remote 200 Dynamic 150 100 Benthic Pelagic Sparse wildlife 50