Fishers' behaviour in response to the implementation of a Marine Protected Area.

ABSTRACT: Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) have been widely proposed as a fisheries management tool in addition to their conservation purposes. Despite this, few studies have satisfactorily assessed the dynamics of fishers' adaptations to the loss of fishing grounds. Here we used data from before, during and after the implementation of the management plan of a temperate Atlantic multiple-use MPA to examine the factors affecting the spatial and temporal distribution of different gears used by the artisanal fishing fleet. The position of vessels and gear types were obtained by visual surveys and related to spatial features of the marine park. A hotspot analysis was conducted to identify heavily utilized patches for each fishing gear and time period. The contribution of individual vessels to each signific

SUBMITTER: Horta e Costa B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3670923 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature