Marine reserves: Fish life history and ecological traits matter

Abstract

Abstract. Marine reserves are assumed to protect a wide range of species from deleterious effects stemming from exploitation. However, some species, due to their ecological characteristics, may not respond positively to protection. Very little is known about the effects of life history and ecological traits (e.g., mobility, growth, and habitat) on responses of fish species to marine reserves. Using 40 data sets from 12 European marine reserves, we show that there is significant variation in the response of different species of fish to protection and that this heterogeneity can be explained, in part, by differences in their traits. Densities of targeted sizeclasses of commercial species were greater in protected than unprotected areas. This effect of protection increased as the maximum body size of the targeted species increased, and it was greater for species that were not obligate schoolers. However, contrary to previous theoretical findings, even mobile species with wide home ranges benefited from protection: the effect of protection was at least as strong for mobile species as it was for sedentary ones. Noncommercial bycatch and unexploited species rarely responded to protection, and when they did (in the case of unexploited bentho-pelagic species), they exhibited the opposite response: their densities were lower inside reserves. The use of marine reserves for marine conservation and fisheries management implies that they should ensure protection for a wide range of species with different life-history and ecological traits. Our results suggest this is not the case, and instead that effects vary with economic value, body size, habitat, depth range, and schooling behavior.

Evaluating catch and mitigating risk in a multispecies, tropical, inshore shark fishery within the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area

“…Demonstrating the effectiveness of spatial closures for protecting wide-ranging, migratory species (e.g. the large coastal/semi-pelagics and hammerheads) is challenging, although evidence suggests that these species may receive some benefits from spatial closures (Claudet et al 2010). Many of the patterns observed in this study (e.g.…”

Assessing the Effects of Marine Protected Areas on Biological Invasions: A Global Review

“…In addition, studies within taxonomic groups should examine whether alien species of similar traits have similar responses to protection. Functional traits have been associated with the invasiveness of alien marine species (e.g., Elleouet et al, 2014;Samaha et al, 2016) as well as to the response of native species to protection (e.g., Claudet et al, 2010). Hence, alien/invasive species of similar traits are likely to display similar patterns and tendencies within MPAs.…”

A multi-agent ecosystem model for studying changes in a tropical estuarine fish assemblage within a marine protected area

“…Though MPAs are primarily considered a conservation tool, with eventual economic interest based on tourist activity, there is evidence that MPAs can also be used as a fisheries management tool, as benefits for local fisheries have been observed (Russ et al 2004;McClanahan et al 2006), although these benefits depend on a number of factors a Corresponding author: timothee.brochier@gmail.com (White et al 2010). It has been shown that the spill-over of an MPA, i.e., the number of fish "exported" from the MPA that become available for fishing, is related to a number of parameters including pre-and post-reserve human exploitation level, MPA size, shape, age, fish life history and fish ecological traits (Claudet et al , 2010White et al 2010). This has motivated considerable research toward the development of scientific tools that aid in decision making for MPA design (Pelletier et al 2008;Kaplan et al 2010).…”

“…Living Resour. 26, 147-158 (2013) migrations have been demonstrated to determine the impact of MPAs on species but are not sufficiently taken into account in MPA studies (Claudet et al 2010;Grüss et al 2011). This is a direct consequence of the use of classical methodological approaches, such as MARXAN (Ball et al 2009) or ECOPATH (Christensen et al 2005(Christensen et al , 2009, which generally examine the system in a static state without considering species interactions or migrations.…”