Changes in the fish community structure after the implementation of Marine Protected Areas in the south western coast of Portugal

Abstract

Event Abstract Back to Event Changes in the fish community structure after the implementation of Marine Protected Areas in the south western coast of Portugal Tadeu J. Pereira1, 2*, Joana Manique1, Bernardo Quintella1, 3, Nuno Castro1, Pedro R. Almeida2 and José L. Costa1, 3 1 MARE-ULisboa, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa, Campo Grande, Portugal 2 MARE - UEvora, Departamento de Biologia, Escola de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade de Évora, Évora, Portugal., Portugal 3 Departamento de Biologia Animal, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are increasingly being recommended as management tools for biodiversity conservation and fisheries. With the purpose of protecting the region’s biodiversity and prevent the over exploitation of marine resources, in February 2011 the MPAs of Ilha do Pessegueiro and Cabo Sardão were implemented in the “Parque Natural do Sudoeste Alentejano e Costa Vicentina “(PNSACV) Natural Park, south western coast of Portugal. In these areas, commercial and recreational fishing became prohibited. In order to evaluate the effects of these MPAs, the structure of its fish communities and of adjacent control areas without fishing restrictions were studied in 2011/12 (immediately after implementation) and 2013 (two years after implementation). A total of 4 sampling campaigns were conducted (summer 2011, winter 2012, summer 2013 and winter 2013) using bottom trawl and gillnets. Faunal communities from the MPAs (treatment) were compared with adjacent areas (controls) and changes evaluated with time. Results revealed significant changes on abundance, having this parameter a slight increase after the implementation of the MPAs. Also, significant differences were observed on the structure of the protected areas communities when compared with neighbouring areas where fishing was still allowed, even though the small amount of time elapsed. In addition, specimens of larger size occurred more frequently within Ilha do Pessegueiro MPA in the last year of the study. Despite the young age of these MPAs, changes on their fish communities’ structure are already visible after only 3 years of protection, showing that these management measures may promote sustainable exploitation of fishing resources as well as protect species with conservation interest, thus leading to a global biodiversity increase. Acknowledgements This study is part of project PROTECT (31-03-05-FEP-0012; www.protect.uevora.pt) co-funded by Programme PROMAR. Keywords: marine reserve, MPA effectiveness, Fishing prohibition, no take zone, PNSACV Marine Park Conference: XV European Congress of Ichthyology, Porto, Portugal, 7 Sep - 11 Sep, 2015. Presentation Type: Oral Presentation Topic: Ecology, Conservation and Invasive Species Citation: Pereira TJ, Manique J, Quintella B, Castro N, Almeida PR and Costa JL (2015). Changes in the fish community structure after the implementation of Marine Protected Areas in the south western coast of Portugal. Front. Mar. Sci. Conference Abstract: XV European Congress of Ichthyology. doi: 10.3389/conf.fmars.2015.03.00025 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 23 Oct 2015; Published Online: 04 Nov 2015. * Correspondence: Dr. Tadeu J Pereira, MARE-ULisboa, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa, Campo Grande, Lisbon, Portugal, tjpereira@fc.ul.pt Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Tadeu J Pereira Joana Manique Bernardo Quintella Nuno Castro Pedro R Almeida José L Costa Google Tadeu J Pereira Joana Manique Bernardo Quintella Nuno Castro Pedro R Almeida José L Costa Google Scholar Tadeu J Pereira Joana Manique Bernardo Quintella Nuno Castro Pedro R Almeida José L Costa PubMed Tadeu J Pereira Joana Manique Bernardo Quintella Nuno Castro Pedro R Almeida José L Costa Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.