This article appears in the following ICES Journal of Marine Science issue: European Symposium on Marine Protected Areas as a Tool for Fisheries Management and Ecosystem Conservation [View the issue table of contents]
Using MPAs to address regional-scale ecological objectives in the North Sea: modelling the effects of fishing effort displacement
1 FRS Marine Laboratory, PO Box 101, 375 Victoria Road, Aberdeen AB11 9DB, UK
2 Wageningen IMARES, IJmuiden, Haringkade 1, 1976 CP IJmuiden, The Netherlands
Correspondence to S. P. R. Greenstreet: tel: +44 1224 295417; fax: +44 1224 295511; e-mail: greenstreet{at}marlab.ac.uk.
Greenstreet, S. P. R., Fraser, H. M., and Piet, G. J. 2009. Using MPAs to address regional-scale ecological objectives in the North Sea: modelling the effects of fishing effort displacement. – ICES Journal of Marine Science, 66: 90–100.The use of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) to address regional-scale objectives as part of an ecosystem approach to management in the North Sea is examined. Ensuring that displacement of fishing activity does not negate the ecological benefits gained from MPAs is a major concern. Two scenarios are considered: using MPAs to safeguard important areas for groundfish species diversity and using them to reduce fishing impacts on benthic invertebrates. Appropriate MPAs were identified using benthic invertebrate and fish abundance data. Fishing effort redistribution was modelled using international landings and fishing effort data. Closing 7.7% of the North Sea to protect groundfish species diversity increased the fishing impact on benthic invertebrates. Closing 7.3% of the North Sea specifically to protect benthic invertebrates reduced fishing mortality by just 1.7–3.8%, but when combined with appropriate reductions in total allowable catch (TAC), 16.2–17.4% reductions in fishing mortality were achieved. MPAs on their own are unlikely to achieve significant regional-scale ecosystem benefits, because local gains are largely negated by fishing effort displacement into the remainder of the North Sea. However, in combination with appropriate TAC reductions, the effectiveness of MPAs may be enhanced.
Keywords: benthic mortality, ecosystem approach to fishery management, fishing effort displacement, groundfish species diversity, MPAs
Received 24 October 2007; accepted 3 April 2008.
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