Marine reserves: size and age do matter
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique · University of Salento · +15 more institutions
Abstract
Marine reserves are widely used throughout the world to prevent overfishing and conserve biodiversity, but uncertainties remain about their optimal design. The effects of marine reserves are heterogeneous. Despite theoretical findings, empirical studies have previously found no effect of size on the effectiveness of marine reserves in protecting commercial fish stocks. Using 58 datasets from 19 European marine reserves, we show that reserve size and age do matter: Increasing the size of the no-take zone increases the density of commercial fishes within the reserve compared with outside; whereas the size of the buffer zone has the opposite effect. Moreover, positive effects of marine reserve on commercial fish…
Citation impact
- FWCI
- 36.62
- Percentile
- 100%
- References
- 65
Authors
21- JCJoachim ClaudetCorresponding
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, University of Salento, Université de Perpignan, École Pratique des Hautes Études
- CWCraig W. Osenberg
University of Florida
- LBLisandro Benedetti‐Cecchi
University of Pisa
- PDPaolo Domenici
Institute for Coastal Marine Environment, Fondazione Centro Marino Internazionale
- JAJosé Antonio García‐Charton
Universidad de Murcia
Topics & keywords
- Marine reserve
- Overfishing
- Marine protected area
- Nature reserve
- Fishing
- Species richness
- Biodiversity
- Ecology
- Life below water