Positive Catch & Economic Benefits of Periodic Octopus Fishery Closures: Do Effective, Narrowly Targeted Actions 'Catalyze' Broader Management?

ABSTRACT:

Overview

Eight years of octopus fishery records from southwest Madagascar reveal significant positive impacts from 36 periodic closures on: (a) fishery catches and (b) village fishery income, such that (c) economic benefits from increased landings outweigh costs of foregone catch. Closures covered ~20% of a village's fished area and lasted 2-7 months.

Fishery catches from each closed site

Octopus landings and catch per unit effort (CPUE) significantly increased in the 30 days following a closure's reopening, relative to the 30 days before a closure (landings: +718%, p<0.0001; CPUE: +87%, p<0.0001; n = 36). Open-access control sites showed no before/after change when they occurred independently of other management ("no ban", n = 17/36). On the other hand, open-access control

SUBMITTER: Oliver TA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4471298 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature