Fish catch responses to Covid-19 disease curfews dependent on compliance, fisheries management, and environmental contexts.

ABSTRACT: The responses of small-scale coastal fisheries to pauses in effort and trade are an important test of natural resource management theories with implications for the many challenges of managing common-pool resources. Three Covid-19 curfews provided a natural experiment to evaluate fisheries responses adjacent a marine reserve and in a management system that restricted small-mesh drag nets. Daily catch weights in ten fish landings were compared before and after the curfew period to test the catch-only hypothesis that the curfew would reduce effort and increase catch per unit effort, per area yields, and incomes. Interviews with key informants indicated that fisheries effort and trade were disrupted but less so in the gear-restricted rural district than the more urbanized reserve landing site

SUBMITTER: McClanahan TR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9314266 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature