WWF Cover photo - Soufriere Marine Management Association ...

They concluded that reserves covering 21% of the fishing grounds would be needed in moderately fished Belize,36% in heavily fished St. Lucia, and 40% in intensively fished Jamaica.The most striking effects of reserves on fisheries come from situations where reserves have constituteda large fraction of the fishing grounds. For example, in St. Lucia, 35% of local reef habitats were protectedwithin the Soufrière Marine Management Area (Roberts et al. 2001a), corresponding almost exactly with theoptimal fraction predicted by Pezzey et al. (2000). In Nabq, reserves constitute approximately one third offormer fishing grounds in the Nabq Managed Resource Protected Area, and there is a large area of reef to thesouth protected within the Ras Mohammed National Park which may also serve as a source for new recruitment(Galal et al. 2002). The 17,000km 2 closed to groundfish fishing and scalloping on Georges Bank comprisesapproximately 25% of the Bank. The Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge in Florida constitutesapproximately 22% of the estuarine habitat used by recreational fishers (Bohnsack 2000). Apo Island’s reservecovers less area, just 10% of the fishing grounds (Maypa et al. 2002). However, its success is partly attributableto good management in adjacent fishing grounds where all destructive fishing methods have been banned.Similarly, although they have not yet been in place for long enough to have contributed to catches of worldrecord sized fish, other fishery management measures recently introduced in Florida will complement the MerrittIsland reserve in delivering benefits to recreational fisheries for red drum, black drum (Pogonias cromis) andspotted seatrout (Cynoscion nebulosus) (Wickstrom 2002).Attwood (2002) estimated that the 9% of galjoen habitat in South African waters that was protected inreserves was large enough to have stabilized catches in adjacent heavily overexploited linefisheries but had notbeen large enough to increase catches. Sometimes, reserves may only be large enough to stem the rate of declinein a fishery rather than foster recovery. For example, the area around the 6.2km 2 Mombasa Marine National Parkhad the highest local catch rates (5.5kg.ha -1 .month -1 ), despite having the highest density of fishers (McClanahanand Mangi 2001). However, over five years the catches there were still declining at a rate of 250g.day -1 , althoughthis was at a lower rate than in fishing grounds further from the reserve which averaged losses in yield of 310-400g.day -1 .The question is often raised as to whether we should start small or large in establishing reserves. If largeand rapid fishery benefits are desired, then a large start is necessary. Large starts proved valuable in St. Lucia,Georges Bank and Nabq, some of the most successful demonstrations of fishery enhancement to date. Adisadvantage of this approach is that the initial costs and disruption of fishing patterns borne by fishers arehigher (Holland and Brazee 1996, Sladek Nowlis and Roberts 1999). Small starts, like the 2% closures forNewfoundland lobster (Rowe 2002), cannot possibly achieve more than minor local effects on catches.However, they can play a very important role in proving to communities that the concept works, and so buildconfidence among fishers for more ambitious reserves. In the Florida Keys, increased fish stocks in the smallSanctuary Preservation Areas helped persuade fishers to create the much larger Dry Tortugas Ecological reservein 2001, which covers 150 square nautical miles (http://www.fknms.nos.noaa.gov/tortugas/). In Fiji, small notakeareas have proliferated into networks as people have adopted the approaches they have seen succeed inneighbouring communities (Tawake and Aalbersberg 2001, Tawake et al. 2001). This has also happened in thePhilippines, and the community-motivated increases in the coverage of marine reserves seem to be an effectiveway to reach sustainable levels of protection.8. What are the timescales of benefit to fisheries?Studies in St. Lucia, Nabq, Apo Island and Georges Bank have all demonstrated catch enhancements in nearbyfisheries within five years. Detailed data on catches from St. Lucia showed that CPUE for trap fisheriesincreased above levels at the time of reserve protection within 3-4 years (Gell et al. in prep. a, Soufrière MarineManagement Area case study). In all cases, early catch improvements came from ‘quick response’ species,generally those with high rates of population turnover. In Georges Bank, scallops rebounded quickly followingexclusion of bottom fishing (Murawski et al. 2000, see Georges Bank case study). There have also beenimprovements in stocks of haddock and flounders, and these are now beginning to spillover into fisheries (PaulHoward, New England Fishery Management Council, pers. comm.), but cod have been slower to respond.Likewise, Roberts et al. (2002) attribute catch enhancements around the Soufrière Marine Management Area inSt. Lucia to ‘high turnover’ species like small snappers, squirrelfish and grunts. Populations of several largerspecies of snappers and grunts are building up in these reserves but have yet to become common in landings(Gell et al. in prep. b). It will take longer for benefits to become apparent for such ‘slow response’ species.The Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge in Florida elegantly demonstrates how species’ lifehistories influence rates of response to reserve protection and shows how benefits can build over long periods(Johnson et al. 1999, Roberts et al. 2001a). The three species involved in the recreational fishery varied widely interms of longevity. Spotted seatrout reach 15 years old, red drum live to 35 and black drum to 70. Only after fishhad been protected for long enough could they reach sizes greater than existing world records and only thencould new world records be set by captures of fish emigrating from the reserve. This point was reached 9 years15