José Antonio García-Charton

TL;DR: The hypotheses that species abundance and the biomass of reef fish populations is higher within than outside marine reserves, and that a north-to-south geographical gradient of these variables exists are tested, and causes of the observed patchiness of Mediterranean reef fish assemblages are probably multiple.

TL;DR: There is significant variation in the response of different species of fish to protection and this heterogeneity can be explained, in part, by differences in their traits, and effects vary with economic value, body size, habitat, depth range, and schooling behavior.

TL;DR: In this article, the existence of gradients of fish abundance and biomass across marine reserve boundaries was assessed in six Mediterranean MPAs using underwater visual censuses performed at various distances from the core of the MPA, in integral reserve (IR), to buffer zone (BZ) and fished areas.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigated spillover (biomass export) around 6 marine protected areas (MPAs) in the western Mediterranean based on catch and effort data from artisanal fisheries and found evidence of effort concentration and high fishery production near fisheries closures for all fishing tactics analyzed and significant negative slopes for most.

TL;DR: It is argued that knowledge about this “natural” variability in fish assemblage structure can help to separate the influence of habitat from other sources of variation, such as the effect of protection from fisheries.