An interdisciplinary evaluation of community-based TURF-reserves.
Juan Carlos Villaseñor-Derbez,Eréndira Aceves-Bueno,Eréndira Aceves-Bueno,Stuart Fulton,Alvin Suarez,Arturo Hernández-Velasco,Jorge Torre,Fiorenza Micheli +7 more
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TLDR
It is found that, overall, reserves have not yet achieved their stated goals of increasing the density of lobster and other benthic invertebrates, nor increasing lobster catches, and these reserves may provide a foundation for establishing additional, larger marine reserves needed to effectively conserve mobile species.Abstract:
Coastal marine ecosystems provide livelihoods for small-scale fishers and coastal communities around the world. Small-scale fisheries face great challenges since they are difficult to monitor, enforce, and manage, which may lead to overexploitation. Combining territorial use rights for fisheries (TURF) with no-take marine reserves to create TURF-reserves can improve the performance of small-scale fisheries by buffering fisheries from environmental variability and management errors, while ensuring that fishers reap the benefits of conservation investments. Since 2012, 18 old and new community-based Mexican TURF-reserves gained legal recognition thanks to a regulation passed in 2012; their effectiveness has not been formally evaluated. We combine causal inference techniques and the Social-Ecological Systems framework to provide a holistic evaluation of community-based TURF-reserves in three coastal communities in Mexico. We find that, overall, reserves have not yet achieved their stated goals of increasing the density of lobster and other benthic invertebrates, nor increasing lobster catches. A lack of clear ecological and socioeconomic effects likely results from a combination of factors. First, some of these reserves might be too young for the effects to show (reserves were 6-10 years old). Second, the reserves are not large enough to protect mobile species, like lobster. Third, variable and extreme oceanographic conditions have impacted harvested populations. Fourth, local fisheries are already well managed, and while reserves may protect populations within its boundaries, it is unlikely that reserves might have a detectable effect in catches. However, even small reserves are expected to provide benefits for sedentary invertebrates over longer time frames, with continued protection. These reserves may provide a foundation for establishing additional, larger marine reserves needed to effectively conserve mobile species.read more
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Local support for conservation is associated with perceptions of good governance, social impacts, and ecological effectiveness
Antonio Calò,Marco Milazzo +1 more
TL;DR: In this paper, a survey of small-scale fishermen in 11 marine protected areas from six countries in the Mediterranean Sea was conducted to evaluate their perceptions of ecological effectiveness, social impacts, and good governance.
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Incentivizing co-management for impact: mechanisms driving the successful national expansion of Tonga's Special Management Area program
Patrick F. Smallhorn-West,Patrick F. Smallhorn-West,Jason Sheehan,Siola'a Malimali,Tu'ikolongahau Halafihi,Tom C. L. Bridge,Tom C. L. Bridge,Robert L. Pressey,Geoffrey P. Jones +8 more
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors discuss and analyze key characteristics of Tonga's Special Management Area (SMA) program, including both the mechanisms that have motivated its successful national expansion and its ability to configure no-take reserves in areas that are considered to have high value to resource users.
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Political making of more-than-fishers through their involvement in ecological monitoring of protected areas
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined fishers' involvement in ecological monitoring of a marine protected area network in Baja California Sur, Mexico, organized since 2012 by the Mexican non-governmental organization Niparaja.
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Community management yields positive impacts for coastal fisheries resources and biodiversity conservation
Patrick F. Smallhorn-West,Patrick F. Smallhorn-West,Karen Stone,Daniela M. Ceccarelli,Siola'a Malimali,Tu'ikolongahau Halafihi,Tom C. L. Bridge,Tom C. L. Bridge,Robert L. Pressey,Geoffrey P. Jones +9 more
TL;DR: In this article, the authors used statistical matching to conduct a rigorous impact evaluation of dual management systems on coral reef fishes in Tonga, with communities having both full no-take areas and areas of exclusive fishing rights.
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Positive Social-Ecological Feedbacks in Community-Based Conservation
Anastasia C. E. Quintana,Alfredo Giron-Nava,Samuel S. Urmy,Alli N. Cramer,Santiago Domínguez-Sánchez,Salvador Rodríguez-Van Dyck,Octavio Aburto-Oropeza,Xavier Basurto,Amy Hudson Weaver +8 more
TL;DR: In this article, the authors theoretically and empirically explore a model of short-term area-based conservation that prioritizes adaptive co-management: temporary areas closed to fishing, designed by the fishers they affect, approved by the government, and adapted every five years.
References
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Spillover Effects of a Community-Managed Marine Reserve
TL;DR: This study quantifies the effects of a community-managed marine reserve in a high poverty area of Northern Mozambique and shows that, after 6 years, the abundance of all fish inside the reserve has increased and caused spillover of herbivorous fish.
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Market and design solutions to the short-term economic impacts of marine reserves
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine the timing and magnitude of economic impacts of marine reserves by utilizing a novel metric that discounts future economic benefits of enhanced productivity resulting from reserve protection, and show that while conservation benefits accrue rapidly, more than a decade is often required to provide net fisheries benefits, even under circumstances favorable for reserves.
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The good, the bad and the ugly of marine reserves for fishery yields.
TL;DR: It is shown that catches under quota-based fisheries that include a network of MRs can exceed maximum sustainable yield (MSY) under conventional quota management if reserves provide protection to old, large spawners that disproportionally contribute to recruitment outside the reserves.
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Harnessing marine microclimates for climate change adaptation and marine conservation
C. Brock Woodson,Fiorenza Micheli,Charles A. Boch,Maha Al‐Najjar,Antonio Espinoza,Arturo Hernandez,Leonardo Vazquez-Vera,Andrea Sáenz-Arroyo,Stephen G. Monismith,Jorge Torre +9 more
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Local response to global uncertainty: Insights from experimental economics in small-scale fisheries
Elena M. Finkbeiner,Fiorenza Micheli,Andrea Sáenz-Arroyo,Leonardo Vazquez-Vera,C.A. Perafan,Juan Camilo Cárdenas +5 more
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors use a behavioral approach to understand how uncertainty drives changes in human behavior and the underlying mechanisms mediating use of behavioral strategies in a small-scale fishery system.