Recovery trajectories of kelp forest animals are rapid yet spatially variable across a network of temperate marine protected areas.

ABSTRACT: Oceans currently face a variety of threats, requiring ecosystem-based approaches to management such as networks of marine protected areas (MPAs). We evaluated changes in fish biomass on temperate rocky reefs over the decade following implementation of a network of MPAs in the northern Channel Islands, California. We found that the biomass of targeted (i.e. fished) species has increased consistently inside all MPAs in the network, with an effect of geography on the strength of the response. More interesting, biomass of targeted fish species also increased outside MPAs, although only 27% as rapidly as in the protected areas, indicating that redistribution of fishing effort has not severely affected unprotected populations. Whether the increase outside of MPAs is due to changes in fishing pre

SUBMITTER: Caselle JE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4642697 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature