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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Journal ArticleDOI
Lobster and cod benefit from small-scale northern marine protected areas: inference from an empirical before–after control-impact study
Even Moland,Esben Moland Olsen,Esben Moland Olsen,Halvor Knutsen,Halvor Knutsen,Pauline Garrigou,Sigurd Heiberg Espeland,Alf Ring Kleiven,Carl André,Jan Atle Knutsen +9 more
TL;DR: One of the northernmost documentations of MPA effects to date is presented, demonstrated by a replicated before–after control-impact (BACI) approach, and illustrates the importance of a replicated BACI design for reaching robust conclusions and management decisions.
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Add-on conservation benefits of marine territorial user rights fishery policies in central Chile.
TL;DR: This study shows that this management tool, which in practice restricts access to the entire management area, provides important conservation add-on effects for species that are not the focus of the management policies.
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Territorial User Rights for Fisheries as Ancillary Instruments for Marine Coastal Conservation in Chile
Stefan Gelcich,Miriam Fernández,Natalio Godoy,Antonio Canepa,Luis Prado,Juan Carlos Castilla +5 more
TL;DR: In kelp (Lessonia trabeculata) forests of central Chile, species richness, density, and biomass of macroinvertebrates and reef fishes among territorial-user-right areas with low-level and high-level enforcement, no-take marine protected areas, and open-access areas are compared.
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Political economy of marine reserves: Understanding the role of opportunity costs
TL;DR: In this article, the authors use a discrete choice model of commercial fishermen's behavior to examine both the short-run and long-run opportunity costs of marine reserves and highlight the potential drivers behind the political economy of marine reserve proposals.
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The importance of experimental design in detecting the effects of protection measures on fish in Mediterranean MPAs
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