Using impact assessment methods to determine the effects of a marine reserve on abundances and sizes of valuable tropical invertebrates

Lincoln-Smith, Marcus P.; Pitt, Kylie A.; Bell, Johann D.; Mapstone, Bruce D.

doi:10.1139/f06-033

Cited by 25 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…Interestingly, our results highlighted markedly opposite density patterns for T. niloticus and non-harvested Tectus pyramis, suggesting competitive interactions between these two closely-related species, which grow to almost the same size and share very similar ecological niches. The same patterns were observed by Lincoln-Smith [30], who hypothesized a limitation of the abundance of T. pyramis caused by competition with T. niloticus inside the reserves, while depletion of T. niloticus in unprotected sites allowed abundances of T. pyramis to increase.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 79%

Small-Scale Habitat Structure Modulates the Effects of No-Take Marine Reserves for Coral Reef Macroinvertebrates

et al. 2013

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No-take marine reserves are one of the oldest and most versatile tools used across the Pacific for the conservation of reef resources, in particular for invertebrates traditionally targeted by local fishers. Assessing their actual efficiency is still a challenge in complex ecosystems such as coral reefs, where reserve effects are likely to be obscured by high levels of environmental variability. The goal of this study was to investigate the potential interference of small-scale habitat structure on the efficiency of reserves. The spatial distribution of widely harvested macroinvertebrates was surveyed in a large set of protected vs. unprotected stations from eleven reefs located in New Caledonia. Abundance, density and individual size data were collected along random, small-scale (20×1 m) transects. Fine habitat typology was derived with a quantitative photographic method using 17 local habitat variables. Marine reserves substantially augmented the local density, size structure and biomass of the target species. Density of Trochus niloticus and Tridacna maxima doubled globally inside the reserve network; average size was greater by 10 to 20% for T. niloticus. We demonstrated that the apparent success of protection could be obscured by marked variations in population structure occurring over short distances, resulting from small-scale heterogeneity in the reef habitat. The efficiency of reserves appeared to be modulated by the availability of suitable habitats at the decimetric scale (“microhabitats”) for the considered sessile/low-mobile macroinvertebrate species. Incorporating microhabitat distribution could significantly enhance the efficiency of habitat surrogacy, a valuable approach in the case of conservation targets focusing on endangered or emblematic macroinvertebrate or relatively sedentary fish species

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 79%

Small-Scale Habitat Structure Modulates the Effects of No-Take Marine Reserves for Coral Reef Macroinvertebrates

et al. 2013

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“…The habitat-specific patterns added a degree of complexity to the trends of trochus populations. The most marked difference between years was in reef crest densities on the southern side, driven by a very high density in 2003 and highlighting the propensity for trochus to aggregate (Castell 1997;Lincoln-Smith et al 2006). Trochus aggregations at Ashmore Reef have been observed previously (e.g., Rees et al 2003) for both juveniles and adults in their preferred habitats of shallow reef flats and complex reef crests, respectively (Castell et al 1996;Castell 1997).…”

Section: Trochusmentioning

confidence: 64%

Population trends of remote invertebrate resources in a marine reserve: trochus and holothurians at Ashmore Reef.

Ceccarelli¹,

Beger²,

Kospartov³

et al. 2011

Pac. Conserv. Biol.

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Marine protected areas (MPAs) have a high capacity to protect fish and invertebrate resources, given adequate surveillance and enforcement. Ashmore Reef National Nature Reserve (Ashmore Reef) was closed to commercial fishing and harvesting of invertebrates such as trochus (Trochus niloticus) and holothurians in 1983. We evaluate population trends in trochus and holothurians during eight years of monitoring, focusing largely on the differences between their populations before and after a lapse of surveillance. The trochus population increased in density from 1998 to 2005, followed by a slight decline in all surveyed habitats in 2006. This decline followed approximately five consecutive months without surveillance. Amongst populations of 18 species of holothurians, densities declined in five, and remained relatively stable in the others. Densities of commercially valuable holothurians (primarily Holothuria whitmaei and H. fuscogilva) were too low to allow the detection of trends. Continuous enforcement of the fishing closure is important to ensure successful conservation of Ashmore Reef, as are standardized monitoring techniques to enable temporal trends to be detected with confidence.

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“…The use and effectiveness of area closures as a management tool have been estimated with respect to changes in community structure (Fisher and Frank 2002;Dinmore et al 2003;Hiddink et al 2006;Jaworsky et al 2006), abundance species (Greenstreet et al 2006;Lincoln-Smith et al 2006;Smith et al 2008;Jensen et al 2010), yield resource (Holland and Brazee 1996;Holland 2003;Hart 2006), economic profits (Smith and Wilen 2003;Sanchirico et al 2006;Armsworth et al 2010). However, there are few studies that consider the fishermen component (Wilen et al 2002;Murawsky et al 2005;Kellner et al 2007;Powers and Abeare 2009).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of time-area closure on tropical tuna purse-seine fleet dynamics through some fishery indicators

Torres‐Irineo

Gaertner

Molina

et al. 2011

Aquat. Living Resour.

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-Time-area closures have become a frequently used tool to control fishing effort and protect feeding and spawning areas. However, because time-area closure strata are mainly based on biological and ecological considerations, and do not accounts for fishermen's behavior-at-sea, this type of regulation tool may not entirely achieve its objectives. With the aim of comparing the impact of two different time-area regulations: (1) a moratorium on Fish Aggregating Devices (FAD) sets (1997)(1998)(1999)(2000)(2001)(2002)(2003)(2004)(2005) and (2) a no-take area for surface fleets (2005)(2006)(2007)(2008)(2009)(2010) on the dynamics of the European (EU) tuna purse seine fleet operating in the eastern tropical Atlantic, several fishery indicators were evaluated through a Before-After, Control-Impact (BACI) approach. The results showed that prior to any regulation, the fleet used to be concentrated within the Gulf of Guinea area. During the first years of the moratorium on FAD (from November to January within a large region in the eastern Atlantic) there was a movement towards outside the protected area, increasing the total sets on FAD (restricted fishing activity). In general, this moratorium fulfilled its objectives; however, it was not respected during the last years of this regulation. The no-take time-area closure restricted all tuna catches for the surface fisheries but only in November and within a small area (i.e., the Picolo zone). As a result, there was an increase in activities on free schools outside the no-take area. Our findings suggest the use of some simple fishery indicators to understand fleet dynamics as a complement of ecological information before implementing new time area closures. Furthermore, since tunas are highly mobile species, anticipating the possible re-allocation of effort of purse seiners to adjacent areas in response to the spatial regulation is required to design different candidate time-area closures and to evaluate their effectiveness to protect juvenile tunas.

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Using impact assessment methods to determine the effects of a marine reserve on abundances and sizes of valuable tropical invertebrates

Cited by 25 publications

References 30 publications

Small-Scale Habitat Structure Modulates the Effects of No-Take Marine Reserves for Coral Reef Macroinvertebrates

Small-Scale Habitat Structure Modulates the Effects of No-Take Marine Reserves for Coral Reef Macroinvertebrates

Population trends of remote invertebrate resources in a marine reserve: trochus and holothurians at Ashmore Reef.

Effects of time-area closure on tropical tuna purse-seine fleet dynamics through some fishery indicators

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