Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-94fs2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T23:29:25.227Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

No-trawl area impacts: perceptions, compliance and fish abundances

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 May 2012

H.J. BLOOMFIELD ,
C.J. SWEETING ,
A.C. MILL ,
S.M. STEAD  and
N.V.C. POLUNIN
H.J. BLOOMFIELD*
Affiliation:
School of Marine Science and Technology, Newcastle University, Newcastle-upon-Tyne NE1 7RU, UK School of Environmental Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 3GP, UK
C.J. SWEETING
Affiliation:
School of Marine Science and Technology, Newcastle University, Newcastle-upon-Tyne NE1 7RU, UK
A.C. MILL
Affiliation:
School of Biology, Newcastle University, Newcastle-upon-Tyne NE1 7RU, UK
S.M. STEAD
Affiliation:
School of Marine Science and Technology, Newcastle University, Newcastle-upon-Tyne NE1 7RU, UK
N.V.C. POLUNIN
Affiliation:
School of Marine Science and Technology, Newcastle University, Newcastle-upon-Tyne NE1 7RU, UK
*
*Correspondence: Dr Helen Bloomfield, School of Environmental Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 3GP, UK e-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

MPAs are being established worldwide at an increasing rate, however empirical evidence for benefits to mobile species of small areas closed to fishing in temperate regions are little known. Using two North Sea prohibited trawling areas (PTAs) established > 80 years ago, social (fishers’ perceptions), management (fishing effort and compliance) and ecological (fish abundance and size) data were combined to assess the PTAs against their primary societal (conflict resolution) and secondary ecological (stock protection) objectives. Fishers perceived that the PTAs resolved conflicts between static and mobile gear sectors, despite evidence of non-compliance. However, few fishers perceived that they personally benefited from the PTAs. Fish abundance and size data from baited traps (BT) and video (BV) provided no evidence of PTA effects, but trawling effort was a significant predictor of BT fish abundance data and improved the model of BV fish abundance data. The absence of PTA effects on fish is attributable to non-compliance, the high mobility of the fish involved and their continued exploitation within the PTAs using static gear. This points to the need for greater understanding of the behaviour of fishers in relation to closures. The study also highlights the challenges of quantifying possible fishery benefits of small temperate closed areas and questions whether widely advocated fishery benefits may have enhanced initial support, but failure to deliver them may erode faith in such closures as a fisheries management tool.

Keywords

compliancefisheriesmarine protected areasmobile speciesmultidisciplinarysocial
Type
THEMATIC SECTION: Temperate Marine Protected Areas
Information
Environmental Conservation , Volume 39 , Issue 3: Thematic section. Temperate Marine Protected Areas , September 2012 , pp. 237 - 247
Copyright
Copyright © Foundation for Environmental Conservation 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Agardy, T., Bridgewater, P., Crosby, M.P., Day, J., Dayton, P.K., Kenchington, R., Laffoley, D., McConney, P., Murray, P.A., Parks, J.E. & Peau, L. (2003) Dangerous targets? Unresolved issues and ideological clashes around marine protected areas. Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems 13: 353–367.Google Scholar
Agardy, T., di Sciara, G.N. & Christie, P. (2011) Mind the gap: addressing the shortcomings of marine protected areas through large scale marine spatial planning. Marine Policy 35: 226–232.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Allen, J.H. (2008) Ecological assessment of Yorkshire coast prohibited trawling areas. Report to North Eastern Sea Fisheries Committee, July 2008. Report number ZBB663-F-2008, Institute of Estuarine and Coastal Studies, University of Hull, Hull, UK.Google Scholar
Beukers-Stewart, B.D., Vause, B.J., Mosley, M.W.J., Rossetti, H.L. & Brand, A.R. (2005) Benefits of closed area protection for a population of scallops. Marine Ecology-Progress Series 298: 189–204.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beyer, H.L. (2004) Hawth's Analysis Tools for ArcGIS [www document]. URL http://www.spatialecology.com/htools Google Scholar
Blyth, R.E., Kaiser, M.J., Edwards-Jones, G. & Hart, P.J.B. (2002) Voluntary management in an inshore fishery has conservation benefits. Environmental Conservation 29: 493–508.Google Scholar
Blyth, R.E., Kaiser, M.J., Edwards-Jones, G. & Hart, P.J.B. (2004) Implications of a zoned fishery management system for marine benthic communities. Journal of Applied Ecology 41: 951–961.Google Scholar
Blyth-Skyrme, R.E., Kaiser, M.J., Hiddink, J.G., Edwards-Jones, G. & Hart, P.J.B. (2006) Conservation benefits of temperate marine protected areas: variation among fish species. Conservation Biology 20: 811–820.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bohnsack, J.A. (1996) Marine reserves, zoning, and the future of fishery management. Fisheries 21: 14–16.Google Scholar
Botsford, L.W., Micheli, F. & Hastings, A. (2003) Principles for the design of marine reserves. Ecological Applications 13: S25–S31.Google Scholar
Byers, J.E. & Noonburg, E.G. (2007) Poaching, enforcement, and the efficacy of marine reserves. Ecological Applications 17: 1851–1856.Google Scholar
Caddy, J. (2008) The importance of ‘cover’ in the life histories of demersal and benthic marine resources: a neglected issue in fisheries assessment and management. Bulletin of Marine Science 83: 7.Google Scholar
Caveen, A.J., Sweeting, C.J., Willis, T.J. & Polunin, N.V.C. (2012) Are the scientific foundations of temperate marine reserves too warm and hard? Environmental Conservation 39: 199–203.Google Scholar
Charles, A.T. (2001) Sustainable Fishery Systems. London, UK: Wiley-Blackwell.Google Scholar
Christie, P. (2011) Creating space for interdisciplinary marine and coastal research: five dilemmas and suggested resolutions. Environmental Conservation 38: 172–186.Google Scholar
Christie, P., McCay, B.J., Miller, M.L., Lowe, C., White, A.T., Stoffle, R., Fluharty, D.L., McManus, L.T., Chuenpagdee, R., Pomeroy, C., Suman, D.O., Blount, B.G., Huppert, D., Eisma, R.L.V., Oracion, E., Lowry, K. & Pollnac, R.B. (2003) Toward developing a complete understanding: a social science research agenda for marine protected areas. Fisheries 28: 22–26.Google Scholar
Day, J.C. (2002) Zoning: lessons from the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. Ocean and Coastal Management 45: 139–156.Google Scholar
Dayton, P.K., Sala, E., Tegner, M.J., & Thrush, S. (2000) Marine reserves: parks, baselines, and fishery enhancement. Bulletin of Marine Science 66: 617–634.Google Scholar
De Young, C., Charles, A. & Hjort, A. (2008) Human dimensions of the ecosystem approach to fisheries: an overview of context, concepts, tools and methods. FAO Fisheries Technical Paper. No. 489, FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Department, Rome, Italy [www document]. URL http://www.fao.org/docrep/010/i0163e/i0163e00.htm Google Scholar
EC (2003) Commission Regulation (EC) No. 2244/2003 of 18 December 2003 laying down detailed provisions regarding satellite-based Vessel Monitoring Systems. Official Journal of the European Union L333: 17–27 [www document]. URL http://faolex.fao.org/docs/pdf/eur40442.pdf Google Scholar
Fernandes, L., Day, J., Lewis, A., Slegers, S., Kerrigan, B., Breen, D., Cameron, D., Jago, B., Hall, J., Lowe, D., Innes, J., Tanzer, J., Chadwick, V., Thompson, L., Gorman, K., Simmons, M., Barnett, B., Sampson, K., De'ath, G., Mapstone, B., Marsh, H., Possingham, H., Ball, I., Ward, T., Dobbs, K., Aumend, J., Slater, D. & Stapleton, K. (2005) Establishing representative no-take areas in the Great Barrier Reef: large-scale implementation of theory on marine protected areas. Conservation Biology 19: 1733–1744.Google Scholar
Frank, K.T., Shackell, N.L. & Simon, J.E. (2000) An evaluation of the Emerald/Western Bank juvenile haddock closed area. ICES Journal of Marine Science 57 (4): 1023–1034.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goodman, L.A. (1961) Snowball sampling. Annals of Mathematical Statistics 32: 148–170.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grafton, R., Kompas, T. & Schneider, V. (2005) The bioeconomics of marine reserves: a selected review with policy implications. Journal of Bioeconomics 7: 161–178.Google Scholar
Gubbay, S. (2004) Marine protected areas in the context of marine spatial planning: discussing the links. A report for WWF-UK, Godalming, Surrey, UK [www document]. URL http://www.wwf.org.uk/filelibrary/pdf/mpas-marinespacialplanning.pdf Google Scholar
Guidetti, P. (2002) The importance of experimental design in detecting the effects of protection measures on fish in Mediterranean MPAs. Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems 12: 619–634.Google Scholar
Halpern, B.S. (2003) The impact of marine reserves: do reserves work and does reserve size matter? Ecological Applications 13: S117–S137.Google Scholar
Halpern, B.S. & Warner, R.R. (2002) Marine reserves have rapid and lasting effects. Ecology Letters 5: 361–366.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hiddink, J.G., Hutton, T., Jennings, S. & Kaiser, M.J. (2006) Predicting the effects of area closures and fishing effort restrictions on the production, biomass, and species richness of benthic invertebrate communities. ICES Journal of Marine Science 63: 822–830.Google Scholar
Hiddink, J.G., Johnson, A.F., Kingham, R. & Hinz, H. (2011) Could our fisheries be more productive? Indirect negative effects of bottom trawl fisheries on fish condition. Journal of Applied Ecology 48: 1441–1449.Google Scholar
Hilborn, R., Stokes, K., Maguire, J.J., Smith, T., Botsford, L.W., Mangel, M., Orensanz, J., Parma, A., Rice, J., Bell, J., Cochrane, K.L., Garcia, S., Hall, S. J., Kirkwood, G.P., Sainsbury, K., Stefansson, G. & Walters, C. (2004) When can marine reserves improve fisheries management? Ocean and Coastal Management 47: 197–205.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holland, D.S. (2000) A bioeconomic model of marine sanctuaries on Georges Bank. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 57: 1307–1319.Google Scholar
Horwood, J.W., Nichols, J.H. & Milligan, S. (1998) Evaluation of closed areas for fish stock conservation. Journal of Applied Ecology 35: 893–903.Google Scholar
Howard, G., Hill, T., Maxwell, S., Baptista, T., Farias, M., Coelho, C., Coulter-Kern, M. & Coulter-Kern, R. (2009) What's wrong with research literatures? And how to make them right. Review of General Psychology 13: 146–166.Google Scholar
Hutton, T., Mardle, S., Pascoe, S. & Clark, R.A. (2004) Modelling fishing location choice within mixed fisheries: English North Sea beam trawlers in 2000 and 2001. ICES Journal of Marine Science 61: 1443–1452.Google Scholar
Jackman, S. (2011) pscl: Classes and Methods for R. Developed in the Political Science Computational Laboratory, Stanford University, California. R package version 1.03.10 [www document]. URL http://pscl.stanford.edu/ Google Scholar
Kaiser, M., Collie, J., Hall, S., Jennings, S. & Poiner, I. (2002) Modification of marine habitats by trawling activities: prognosis and solutions. Fish and Fisheries 3: 114–136.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kaiser, M.J. (2005) Are marine protected areas a red herring or fisheries panacea? Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 62: 1194–1199.Google Scholar
Kritzer, J.P. (2004) Effects of noncompliance on the success of alternative designs of marine protected-area networks for conservation and fisheries management. Conservation Biology 18: 1021–1031.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Laurel, B.J. & Bradbury, I.R. (2006) ‘Big’ concerns with high latitude marine protected areas (MPAs): trends in connectivity and MPA size. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 63: 2603–2607.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Le Quesne, W.J.F. & Codling, E.A. (2009) Managing mobile species with MPAs: the effects of mobility, larval dispersal, and fishing mortality on closure size. ICES Journal of Marine Science 66: 122–131.Google Scholar
Lester, S.E., Halpern, B.S., Grorud-Colvert, K., Lubchenco, J., Ruttenberg, B.I., Gaines, S.D., Airamé, S. & Warner, R.R. (2009) Biological effects within no-take marine reserves: a global synthesis. Marine Ecology Progress Series 384: 33–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mills, C.M., Townsend, S.E., Jennings, S., Eastwood, P.D. & Houghton, C.A. (2007) Estimating high resolution trawl fishing effort from satellite-based vessel monitoring system data. ICES Journal of Marine Science 64: 248–255.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Monteiro, S., Vázquez, X. & Long, R. (2010) Improving fishery law enforcement in marine protected areas. Aegean Review of the Law of the Sea and Maritime Law 1: 95–109.Google Scholar
Murawski, S.A., Wigley, S.E., Fogarty, M.J., Rago, P.J. & Mountain, D.G. (2005) Effort distribution and catch patterns adjacent to temperate MPAs. ICES Journal of Marine Science 62: 1150–1167.Google Scholar
NESFC (2008) Summary of Fishing Effort 2008. Report by North Eastern Sea Fisheries Committee, Bridlington, UK.Google Scholar
Pastoors, M.A., Rijnsdorp, A.D. & Van Beek, F.A. (2000) Effects of a partially closed area in the North Sea (‘plaice box’) on stock development of plaice. ICES Journal of Marine Science 57: 1014–1022.Google Scholar
Pinheiro, J., Bates, D., DebRoy, S. & Sarkar, D. (2011) nlme: Linear and Nonlinear Mixed Effects Models. R Development Core Team. R package version 3.1–98 [www document]. http://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/nlme/index.html Google Scholar
Pipitone, C., Badalamenti, F., D'Anna, G. & Patti, B. (2000) Fish biomass increase after a four-year trawl ban in the Gulf of Castellammare (NW Sicily, Mediterranean Sea). Fisheries Research 48: 23–30.Google Scholar
Pita, C., Pierce, G.J., Theodossiou, I. & Macpherson, K. (2011) An overview of commercial fishers’ attitudes towards marine protected areas. Hydrobiologia 670: 289–306.Google Scholar
Polunin, N., Bloomfield, H., Sweeting, C. & McCandless, D. (2009) Developing indicators of MPA effectiveness: finfish abundance and diversity in a Yorkshire prohibited trawl area. Report to Marine and Fisheries Agency, London, UK [www document]. URL http://marinemanagement.org.uk/fisheries/funding/documents/fcf-mpa_effectiveness.pdf Google Scholar
R Development Core team (2011) R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria, 2011 [www document]. URL http://www.r-project.org/ Google Scholar
Roberts, C.M. (1995) Rapid buildup of fish biomass in a Caribbean marine reserve. Conservation Biology 9: 815–826.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roberts, C.M. & Hawkins, J.P. (2000) Fully-protected marine reserves: a guide. WWF Endangered Seas Campaign, 1250 24th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20037, USA and Environment Department, University of York, York, YO10 5DD, UK [www document]. URL http://billhutten.s3.amazonaws.com/fw/docs/345.pdf Google Scholar
Roberts, C.M., Bohnsack, J.A., Gell, F., Hawkins, J.P. & Goodridge, R. (2001) Effects of marine reserves on adjacent fisheries. Science 294: 1920–1923.Google Scholar
Rogers, S.I. (1997) A review of closed areas in the United Kingdom exclusive economic zone. Science Series Technical Report No. 106, CEFAS, Lowestoft, UK.Google Scholar
Russ, G.R. & Alcala, A.C. (1996) Do marine reserves export adult fish biomass? Evidence from Apo Island, central Philippines. Marine Ecology Progress Series 132: 1–9.Google Scholar
Sale, P.F., Cowen, R.K., Danilowicz, B.S., Jones, G.P., Kritzer, J.P., Lindeman, K.C., Planes, S., Polunin, N.V.C., Russ, G.R., Sadovy, Y.J. & Steneck, R.S. (2005) Critical science gaps impede use of no-take fishery reserves. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 20: 74–80.Google Scholar
Stead, S.M. (2005) Changes in Scottish coastal fishing communities: understanding socio-economic dynamics to aid management, planning and policy. Ocean and Coastal Management 48: 670–692.Google Scholar
Stobart, B., García-Charton, J.A., Espejo, C., Rochel, E., Goñi, R., Reñones, O., Herrero, A., Crec'hriou, R., Polti, S., Marcos, C., Planes, S. & Pérez-Ruzafa, A. (2007) A baited underwater video technique to assess shallow-water Mediterranean fish assemblages: Methodological evaluation. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 345: 158–174.Google Scholar
Sweeting, C.J. & Polunin, N.V.C. (2005) Marine protected areas for management of temperate North Atlantic Fisheries. Lessons learned in MPA use for sustainable fisheries exploitation and stock recovery. Report to DEFRA, UK [www document]. URL http://archive.defra.gov.uk/environment/marine/documents/science/mpareport-northatlantic.pdf Google Scholar
Traves, G. (2006) Flamborough, a Major Fishing Station. Driffield, UK: David Marley: 340 pp.Google Scholar
UK Marine and Coastal Access Act (2009) UK Marine and Coastal Access Act [www document]. URL http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2009/23/contents Google Scholar
Whitmarsh, D., James, C., Pickering, H., Pipitone, C., Badalamenti, F. & D'Anna, G. (2002) Economic effects of fisheries exclusion zones: a Sicilian case study. Marine Resource Economics 17: 239–250.Google Scholar
Willis, T.J. & Babcock, R.C. (2000) A baited underwater video system for the determination of relative density of carnivorous reef fish. Marine and Freshwater Research 51: 755–763.Google Scholar
Willis, T.J., Millar, R.B. & Babcock, R.C. (2000) Detection of spatial variability in relative density of fishes: comparison of visual census, angling, and baited underwater video. Marine Ecology Progress Series 198: 249–260.Google Scholar
Willis, T.J., Millar, R.B. & Babcock, R.C. (2003) Protection of exploited fish in temperate regions: high density and biomass of snapper Pagrus auratus (Sparidae) in northern New Zealand marine reserves. Journal of Applied Ecology 40: 214–227.Google Scholar
Woolmer, A. (2009) National Shellfish Resource Base: cost-effective and efficient methodology to map inshore <10 m fleet. Report to Shellfish Industry Development Strategy, UK [www document]. URL http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/andywoolmer/Reports/SIDS_Shellfish_Activity_Mapping_Project.pdf Google Scholar
Wright, P.J., Neat, F.C., Gibb, F.M., Gibb, I.M. & Thordarson, H. (2006) Evidence for metapopulation structuring in cod from the west of Scotland and North Sea. Journal of Fish Biology 69: 181–199.Google Scholar
WSSD (2002) Plan of Implementation of the World Summit on Sustainable Development. New York, NY, USA: UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Division of Sustainable Development.Google Scholar
Zuur, A.F., Ieno, E.I., Walker, N.J., Saveliev, A.A. & Smith, G.M. (2009) Mixed Effects Models and Extensions in Ecology with R. Dordrecht, the Netherlands: Springer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Bloomfield supplementary material

Appendix

Download Bloomfield supplementary material(File)
File 45.6 KB