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management reforms to global fisheries are applied. Some ‘best case’ scenarios suggest that 98% of fish stocks can
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be rebuilt by 2050 if adequate reform is enacted quickly .
Despite the variety of fisheries management strategies, traditional single-species management strategies are
often employed for large-scale fisheries . Single-species management strategies are inadequate for small-scale
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fisheries (SSF) where the gear and the target species can be temporally and spatially changing. Moreover, due
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to the complexity of these fisheries, data are generally missing . The limited available data on SSF suggest that
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44–60% are overexploited with predictions of the future being unfavorable . The overexploitation of SSF is of
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critical concern because they represent about 20% of global catches and play a direct role in securing food and
livelihoods for coastal communities . SSFs globally are responsible for half of the catches intended for human
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consumption and, compared to industrial fisheries, offer more equitable economic and social benefits (e.g., higher
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employment) to stakeholder communities . However, only recently governments and international organisations
(e.g., FAO) have recognised the important contribution of SSF to poverty alleviation, food security and the sus-
tainable blue-economy 10,12 .
The failure of current practices to adequately manage fisheries has led to the “Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries
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(EAF)” , aiming to balance ecosystem health with socio-economic needs. EAF has been identified as the guid-
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ing principle to reach sustainability in SSF , while marine protected areas (MPAs) are considered one of EAF’s
important elements . In the last decade, the rapid pace of MPA creation has led to 12,000 MPAs and 12 million
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km of protected ocean, globally . MPAs are generally multiple-use areas aiming to protect natural populations,
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ecosystems and the goods and services they provide to society . In concert with protection, MPAs can potentially
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enhance local fisheries , in particular SSFs, and promote local socio-economies through sustainable develop-
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ment. More than 18% of global MPAs contain both no-take zones (NTZ), where all extractive activities are forbid-
den and where the focus is on conservation, and buffer zones (BZ), where SSF and other potentially sustainable
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activities are allowed . The proportion of MPAs containing both NTZ and BZ can be higher in locations where
high human densities result in intense use of the sea. A primary example of this is the Mediterranean Sea where
about 92% of MPAs contain both NTZ and BZ .
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MPAs have been proven an effective tool to achieve conservation goals by allowing the recovery of marine
populations and ecosystems 20–22 . However, the role of MPAs in providing fisheries benefits is still debated because
the results are often context-dependent 23,24 . Although MPAs are not always a ‘one-size-fits-all’ solution 24,25 , the
benefits of MPAs to SSFs can be substantial since they protect fish stocks in the NTZ and can promote density
dependent spill-over processes 19,26 enhancing fisheries catches in the BZ and outside the MPAs 24,27,28 . MPAs could
also play a crucial role in SSF management. Being a spatially explicit conservation/management tool, MPAs make
it easier for decision-making systems to cope with the patchy and heterogeneous nature of SSF fisher communities
by allowing for the implementation of fisheries regulations that address needs at a localised scale. Furthermore,
MPAs provide opportunities to test fishing management practices aimed at sustainability (e.g., fishermen engage-
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ment in management ).
The use of MPAs can potentially create a “win-win” situation where the challenges of conservation and
SSF management can be resolved in parallel 5,28,30 . However if benefits are over-stated and expectation are not
reached, negative stakeholder attitude can reduce compliance creating a negative cycle that further impairs the
performance of MPAs . Therefore it is crucial to identify and highlight the characteristics (e.g. environmental,
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economic and social attributes) that underline success of SSFs management within MPAs, and leading to a
win-win scenario.
The management of SSFs within MPAs has received little attention in the scientific literature. Subsequently,
little is known of the characteristics that lead to a successful SSF-MPA partnership. Studies on the performance
of MPAs generally focus on either conservation (reserve effects 20–22 ) or fishery management (enhanced fishery
yields 24,27,32 ) independently, neglecting to consider MPAs, SSF and fishing resources as complex socio-ecological
system (SES) that integrates both natural and human components 33,34 . There are, however, a few exceptions within
a tropical context where SSF and fishing resources are analysed in a SES-framework 35,36 .
To address this gap in the literature, we identify key characteristics associated with successful SSFs manage-
ment in Mediterranean MPAs by assembling a unique database of peer-reviewed literature, grey-literature and a
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set of interviews across 25 MPAs. These MPAs span five countries, cover approximately 3,160 km and harbour
more than 1,000 SSF vessels (Fig. 1, Supplementary Table S1). Small-scale fisheries are fundamental to the econ-
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omies and societies of the Mediterranean Sea where they employ more than 137,000 fishermen . Although there
exists a relatively high number of MPAs in the Mediterranean Sea (170), 85% of fish stocks are overfished
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suggesting that traditional fisheries management has been ineffective 38,39 .
The MPAs included in this study are distributed along the central-north region of the Mediterranean basin
and they encompass a variety of environmental (i.e. they are located in 4 different ecoregions), management
(i.e. MPA size, fishing restrictions, enforcement level, level of fishermen engagement into management) and
socio-economic (i.e. countries, presence of a leader among fishermen, fishermen grouped in associations) condi-
tions. Therefore, our findings are relevant throughout the central-north Mediterranean Sea where 96% of all the
Mediterranean MPAs are located .
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We followed Ostrom’s framework to identify characteristics of SES and define the success of SSF manage-
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ment in MPAs. Specifically, for each MPA we extracted a set of predictive variables (i.e. attributes) that describe
multiple aspects of SSFs management (see Supplementary Table S2 for a full list and description). Additionally,
we identified responses, or outcomes (Table S2), that cover ecological, social and economic aspects of SSF man-
agement, a common practice when assessing variables that affect successful management of common pool
resources 35,40,41 . The outcomes included: a) ecological effectiveness (i.e., fish assemblages with higher density/
biomass within an MPA compared to unprotected areas), b) economic benefits for fishermen (i.e., higher incomes
when fishing within the MPA buffer zone compared to outside) and c) the commitment of fishermen to the
environment (i.e., fishermen comply with MPAs rules and participate to research and environmental programs).
Scientific RepoRts | 6:38135 | DOI: 10.1038/srep38135 2