Transboundary Socio-Ecological Effects of a Marine Protected Area in the Southwest Atlantic

Abstract

Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) have been regarded as an alternative to protect natural resources and to improve fisheries. However, MPAs may also have negative socio-economic consequences on fishing communities. We aimed to check the effectiveness of a socially conflicting MPA in Brazil by assessing target reef fish biomass in islands inside (n = 6) and outside (n = 6) the MPA, fisheries' productivity (biomass), catch per unit of effort (CPUE), and fishers' socioeconomic status (mainly fishers' income) in three fishing communities subjected to different degrees of influence (close, average, and long distance) of the MPA. The CPUE was higher in the fishing community that was further away from the MPA, fish biomass was higher in the islands located inside the MPA in the southern region and in the islands located outside the MPA in the northern region, while fishers were making the most money closest to the MPA, where conflicts are the highest, probably from practicing very intensive fisheries. This integrated approach showed that the studied MPA has not delivered ecological benefits, such as higher CPUE or more fish, while higher income closer to the MPA could not be clearly attributed to its effects.

What are the environmental impacts of property rights regimes in forests, fisheries and rangelands?

“…10), except for 2 studies with undetermined outcomes [47,48]. There were more reported studies of state regime performing similarly to open access [49][50][51][52][53] than community performing similarly to open access [54]. Moreover, Latin America saw more studies of state regimes reportedly performing similarly to open access regimes than Asia and Africa combined.…”

Resilience and Challenges of Marine Social–Ecological Systems Under Complex and Interconnected Drivers

“…Both aspects are analyzed in the four articles of this section. Lopes et al (2013) examine the effectiveness of a socially conflictive MPA between stakeholders in Brazil.…”

Small-scale Fisheries and Biodiversity: Alleviating Poverty and Conserving Natural Resources

“…Defeo et al [13] addressed the importance of the social-ecological systems of small-scale fisheries considering the effects of climate change, markets and governance: for example, they concluded that weak governance, market globalization, fishing pressure and climate change contributed to resource depletion in shellfisheries of Latin America. Lopes et al [14] have shown that marine protected areas did not visibly protect either fisheries or fishermen in fisheries from Paraty, SE Brazil. Berkes [15] have pointed out that there is need to understand motivation to conserve and that benefits can include economic, cultural, social and political aspects.…”