Fisheries outcomes of marine protected area networks: levels of protection, connectivity, and time matter. | Biodiversité | Scoop.it

Establishing large networks of fully protected marine protected areas (MPAs) is challenging because of displacement costs for fisheries. The use of partially protected areas is often proposed as an alternative. However, how conservation and fisheries outcomes of MPA networks are mediated through time by the level of protection remains uncertain. Here we use a metapopulation model of a commercially exploited demersal coastal fish to assess conservation and fisheries outcomes of alternative management policies. We compare the temporal performances of nonspatial management, large MPAs, or networks of MPAs in an overfished case study.