The Cap Roux MPA (Saint-Raphaël, French Mediterranean): changes in fish assemblages within four years of protection

Abstract

Seytre, C., and Francour, P. 2009. The Cap Roux MPA (Saint-Raphaël, French Mediterranean): changes in fish assemblages within four years of protection. – ICES Journal of Marine Science, 66: 180–187. In recent decades, marine reserves have been established to protect ecosystem structure and biological diversity, or as management tools to combat the overexploitation of fish stocks. The Cap Roux Marine Protected Area (MPA) was established by professional fishers in December 2003, in the French Mediterranean between Cannes and Saint-Raphaël. It was implemented to enhance target fish stocks for local fisheries. The objective of this 3-year study was to investigate the initial responses of fish assemblages, using complementary methods: experimental net fishing performed by a professional fisher and underwater visual census. Within 3 years, this study detected early changes in the fish assemblages. The methods also detected an increase in abundance and diversity of fish, but also a decrease of seasonal fluctuations of the assemblage structure, which was characterized by winter values close to summer values in the protected zone but not outside of the MPA. These results helped clarify the dynamic by which fish assemblages respond to fishing prohibition in a newly created protected area.

Comparative analysis of artisanal and recreational fisheries for Dentex dentex in a Marine Protected Area

“…). A likely hypothesis is that a long period (several decades) of fishing prohibition is necessary to reach a complete reserve effect that could lead to an increase in catches for fishers outside the protected zone, as part of a density‐dependent process (Seytre & Francour ).…”

Mapping the diversity of spectral shapes discriminates between adjacent benthic biophonies

“…Several massive coralligenous reefs emerge from the sandy habitat, comprising only 43 900 m2 (1.1% of the overall study area). The site is described as 'in good ecological state' and hosts a rich biodiversity (Seytre & Francour 2009, Gobert et al 2014. …”

Spatial Management of Fisheries in the Mediterranean Sea

“…Research on MMAs in the Mediterranean region has addressed to a large extent the effect of protection on ecological processes and on the structure of fish and benthic assemblages inside marine reserves (Bevilacqua et al, 2006;Claudet et al, 2010Claudet et al, , 2011Coll et al, 2012;Consoli et al, 2013;Di Franco et al, 2009;Fouzai et al, 2012;Guidetti et al, 2014;Seytre and Francour, 2009;Valls et al, 2012;Villamor and Becerro, 2012). The academic literature on the effects of MMAs on fisheries is still relatively scarce and is concentrated more on the species (abundance, size structure) than on human components (fisheries yields, fishing patterns, fishermen perceptions and attitudes, governance issues).…”