Open AccessA Genuine Win‐Win: Resolving the “Conserve or Catch” Conflict in Marine Reserve Network Design
Author(s) -
Chollett Iliana,
Garavelli Lysel,
O'Farrell Shay,
Cherubin Laurent,
Matthews Thomas R.,
Mumby Peter J.,
Box Stephen J.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
conservation letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.153
H-Index - 79
ISSN - 1755-263X
DOI - 10.1111/conl.12318
Subject(s) - marine reserve , marine protected area , fishing , population , fishery , environmental resource management , natural resource economics , ecology , business , geography , habitat , economics , biology , demography , sociology
To support fishing communities, reserves should ensure the persistence of meta‐populations while boosting fisheries yield. However, so far their design from the onset has rarely considered both objectives simultaneously. Here we overcome this barrier in designing a network of reserves for the Caribbean spiny lobster, a species with long larval duration for which local management is considered pointless because the benefits of protection are believed to be accrued elsewhere. Our reserve design approach uses spatially explicit population models and considers ontogenetic migration, larval and adult movement. We show that yield and persistence are negatively related, but that both objectives can be maximized simultaneously during planning. Importantly, we also show that local efforts to manage spiny lobster, the most economically valuable marine resource in the Caribbean, can result in locally accrued benefits, overcoming a major barrier to investing effort in the appropriate management of this species.