Illegal fishing and compliance management in marine protected areas: a situational approach

Damian Weekers,Gohar Petrossian,Lauric Thiault

doi:10.1186/s40163-021-00145-w

Abstract

Protected Areas (PAs) are spatially representative management tools that impose various levels of protection for conservation purposes. As spatially regulated places, ensuring compliance with the rules represents a key element of effective management and positive conservation outcomes. Wildlife crime, and in particular poaching, is a serious global problem that undermines the success of PAs. This study applies a socio-ecological approach to understanding the opportunity structure of illegal recreational fishing (poaching) in no-take zones in Australia’s Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. We use Boosted Regression Trees to predict the spatio-temporal distribution of poaching risk within no-take Marine National Park zones. The results show that five risk factors account for nearly three quarters (73.6%) of the relative importance for poaching in no-take zones and that temporally varying conditions influence risk across space. We discuss these findings through the theoretical lens of Environmental Criminology and suggest that law enforcement strategies focus on reducing the negative outcomes associated with poaching by limiting the opportunity of would-be offenders to undertake illegal activity.

Highlights

Wildlife crime represents a significant social and ecological problem that threatens vulnerable species, negatively impacts on natural habitats and undermines the global conservation agenda (Moreto, 2018; Nellemann et al, 2018)
The results show that five factors represent nearly three quarters (73.6%) of the relative importance for poaching in no-take Marine National Parks (MNPs) in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park (GBRMP)
Summary of findings Drawing from three environmental criminology theories, namely the rational choice perspective, the routine activities approach, and the crime pattern theory, this research set out to examine the relative importance of the various biophysical, weather, temporal, as well as fishing and management predictors of illegal recreational fishing in Australia’s Great Barrier Reef Marine Park

Summary

Introduction

Wildlife crime represents a significant social and ecological problem that threatens vulnerable species, negatively impacts on natural habitats and undermines the global conservation agenda (Moreto, 2018; Nellemann et al, 2018). Weekers & Zahnow, 2019; Weekers, Mazerolle & Zahnow, 2020) While much of this literature has successfully described the spatial and temporal risk factors associated with poaching, environmental criminologists analyzing wildlife crime problems have sought to explain these patterns through human-ecological theory (Moreto & Pires, 2018; Peterossian, 2019). From this perspective, poaching hot spots emerge from the complex social-ecological system that influences how, when and where individuals engage with their environment (Hill, 2015). They argue that an understanding of the social dynamics of poaching hot spots provides conservation managers with an increased capacity to engage in proactive and prevention focused compliance management practices (Cowan et al, 2020; Moreto & Lemieux, 2015)

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