Abstract
Spatial conservation prioritization is used worldwide for designing marine protected areas (MPA) that achieve set conservation objectives with minimal impacts to marine users. People involved in small-scale fisheries (SSF) may incur negative and disproportionate impacts from implementing MPAs, yet limited available data often restricts their representation in MPA planning. Using a Philippines case study, we focus here on the systematic design of a MPA network that aims to minimize and distribute costs equitably for SSF whilst achieving representation targets for biodiversity conservation. The objectives of the study are to: (1) document a participatory mapping approach for collecting SSF data for prioritization using the local knowledge of fishers; and (2) examine how the completeness and resolution of SSF data may affect prioritization outputs in terms of biodiversity representation, spatial efficiency, and distribution equity. In the data-poor region, we conducted participatory mapping workshops with fishers in 79 communities to collect data on the spatial distribution patterns of different SSF fisheries and communities, and employed remote sensing techniques to define coastal habitats, which were targeted for inclusion in MPAs. The datasets were integrated within the decision-support tool Marxan with Zones to develop three scenarios. The SSF data incorporated in each scenario varied based on their completeness (considered all fishing methods or only dominant methods) and resolution (fishing methods itemized by community or municipality). All scenarios derived MPA plans that met representation targets with similar area coverage. The outputs, however, varied in terms of distribution equity, measured by the distribution of opportunity costs (loss of fishing grounds) across different fisheries and communities. Scenarios that did not include minority fisheries or variations between communities, led to inequitable costs. These results highlight the need to incorporate detailed data on SSF at appropriate resolutions, and how this can be achieved through participatory approaches.
Highlights
The establishment of marine protected areas (MPAs) is a key global strategy in addressing ongoing declines in biodiversity and fisheries [1,2]
Spatial data on fisheries did not exist in the study region, and we developed and held participatory mapping workshops to collect spatial data on the distribution patterns of different communities and types of fisheries
Fishers often employ more than one form of fishing, so the sum of fishers per method shown in Fig 2A does not equate to the total number of fishers in the planning region
Summary
The establishment of marine protected areas (MPAs) is a key global strategy in addressing ongoing declines in biodiversity and fisheries [1,2]. SSF landings supply a source of protein and essential micronutrients for billions of consumers around the world [10,16,17], and play a vital role in alleviating hunger and malnutrition in developing countries [17], where more than half of all SSF catches are consumed directly by households and communities [10]. These fisheries provide important contributions to food security and poverty alleviation, especially in the developing world [10,16,17,18]. The majority of MPAs are less than 1 km in size [85], ineffectively managed [88], and under representative of critical habitats [77,85] and key biodiversity areas (areas with the presence of globally threatened and geographically concentrated species) [89]
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