Multi-zone marine protected areas: Assessment of ecosystem and fisheries benefits using multiple ecosystem models

Abstract

The current alarming state of many coastal ecosystems and fisheries calls for the development of tools to support recovery of exploited stocks, ensure their sustainable exploitation and protect marine ecosystems. Multi-zone Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are often advocated to reconcile conservation and fisheries benefits. However, while there is a consensus about the ecological benefits whether such types of MPAs can really provide both benefits is still uncertain. Here, we analysed three existing Northwestern Mediterranean multi-zone MPAs (Cerbère-Banyuls, Cap de Creus and Medes Islands) using a comparative temporal ecosystem modelling approach to assess their effectiveness over time in recovering marine resources and ecosystem in the area. Our results showed differences in the ecological effectiveness of the three MPAs, potentially driven by MPA design, management and implementation features. Temporal increases of benefits were small, whenever detected, and showed slight recoveries of some target species and ecological indicators, mostly in Cerbère-Banyuls and Medes Islands MPAs. Our results confirm the benefits of protection to coastal marine resources and ecosystems when MPAs are enforced but highlight the current limitations of the three MPAs due to their small size and the significant impacts of small-scale and recreational fisheries. This study illustrates the capability to evaluate protection effects of small multi-zone MPAs with an ecosystem modelling perspective and represents the baseline to develop future scenarios of alternative management options to foster ecosystem recovery and resource rebuilding in the studied MPAs.

Hybridizing research and decision-making: a path toward sustainability in marine spaces

“…Second, we selected two publications using a same mass-balance model (EwE) to analyze the overall ecosystem structure and shing impacts in respectively the Gulf of Lion [48] and the northwestern Mediterranean Sea [49]. They both provide a snapshot of the trophic ows in the ecosystem during a given period, that is based on a consistent set of detailed data for each group of species: biomass density, food requirements (diet matrix), mortality by predation and by shing, etc.…”

The Impact of Image Enhancement and Transfer Learning Techniques on Marine Habitat Mapping

“…Invertebrates live in the benthic zone. Fish and other species live in the ocean zone [2]. Habitat mapping is mainly done to assess the health of delicate marine ecosystems.…”

“…Therefore, habitat mapping is used to assess the health of maritime ecosystems and their current distribution. A habitat map illustrates the geographic distribution of habitats throughout time, assisting marine scientists in evaluating the strength of locales and developing a strategy for their preservation [2]. Habitats mapping supports the EBM directly and plays a massive role in assessing ecosystems.…”

Mapping and Evaluating Marine Protected Areas and Ecosystem Services: A Transdisciplinary Delphi Forecasting Process Framework

“…and Ecospace (Steenbeek et al, 2013) or Atlantis (Audzijonyte et al, 2019) are valuable tools to explore such dynamics. They have been used to explore, for example, the consequences of the implementation of MPAs on the broad ecosystem context at different spatiotemporal scales (Corrales et al, 2020;Steenbeek et al, 2020) and the effects of cross-sectoral interplays in socio-ecological systems (Bauer et al, 2019;Hyytiäinen et al, 2019). MPAs can be used as an analytical and geographical focal point to assess the intersection of a diverse range of ES and related chains of human well-being, and their distribution in coastal communities (Figure 4).…”