Abstract
Marine reserves are viewed as flagship tools to protect exploited species and to contribute to the effective management of coastal fisheries. Yet, the extent to which marine reserves are globally interconnected and able to effectively seed areas, where fisheries are most critical for food and livelihood security is largely unknown. Using a hydrodynamic model of larval dispersal, we predict that most marine reserves are not interconnected by currents and that their potential benefits to fishing areas are presently limited, since countries with high dependency on coastal fisheries receive very little larval supply from marine reserves. This global mismatch could be reversed, however, by placing new marine reserves in areas sufficiently remote to minimize social and economic costs but sufficiently connected through sea currents to seed the most exploited fisheries and endangered ecosystems.
Highlights
Marine reserves are viewed as flagship tools to protect exploited species and to contribute to the effective management of coastal fisheries
Marine protected areas (MPAs) are considered marine reserves (MRs) if they satisfy at least one of the following criteria: they are fully no-take zones, they include a no-take zone or they are classified as strict nature reserves or wilderness areas
Connection probabilities are estimated by recording the position of each individual larva at the end of the pelagic larval duration (PLD), and used to identify isolated and networked MPAs
Summary
Marine reserves are viewed as flagship tools to protect exploited species and to contribute to the effective management of coastal fisheries. The extent to which marine reserves are globally interconnected and able to effectively seed areas, where fisheries are most critical for food and livelihood security is largely unknown. Using a hydrodynamic model of larval dispersal, we predict that most marine reserves are not interconnected by currents and that their potential benefits to fishing areas are presently limited, since countries with high dependency on coastal fisheries receive very little larval supply from marine reserves. This global mismatch could be reversed, by placing new marine reserves in areas sufficiently remote to minimize social and economic costs but sufficiently connected through sea currents to seed the most exploited fisheries and endangered ecosystems. While empirical validation of these models remains challenging[28,29], the effects of parameter uncertainty can be partly addressed using sensitivity analyses[30]
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