Using spatial population models to investigate the potential

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TitleUsing spatial population models to investigate the potential effects of the Ross Sea region Marine Protected Area on the Antarctic toothfish populationAbstractOne aim of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) is to protect a representative portion of the environment through spatial closures to extractive practices such as fisheries. Although they usually involve the displacement of fisheries, their design rarely takes into account the effect of displacing that fishery on the target fish population. We used a spatially explicit population model of Antarctic toothfish in the Ross Sea region to investigate the effects of the endorsed Ross Sea region MPA on the fishery dynamics and the spatial distribution of the toothfish population. Our study indicates that the MPA will likely improve protection of the juvenile population residing on the Antarctic Shelf, while the number of areas with high levels of depletion is unlikely to increase compared to status quo management. Results also suggested a small increase in the catch limit under the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) harvest management rules, but with a slight reduction in catch rates. We have showed that spatial modelling tools can help inform MPA planning by simultaneously quantifying potential effects on the fish population and the ability to achieve conservation goals. Copyright 2017 Elsevier B.V.AcknowledgementsThe authors would like to thank the scientific observers and fishers who collected the data used for this analysis. We thank the CCAMLR Secretariat for providing the data extracts and assisting in the interpretation of the data. We would also like to thank the members of the New Zealand Antarctic Fisheries Stock Assessment Working Group for helpful discussions and input into this paper, and to Matt Pinkerton, Rohan Currey, Ben Sharp, Kath Large, Vonda Cummings, Peter Hairsine, Daniel Goethel and anonymous reviewers for the review of this document. This project was funded by the New Zealand Ministry for Primary Industries [projectANT2013/01], the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment [Project C01x1001, Protecting Ross Sea Ecosystems] and the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research Ltd. [Fisheries Centre Research Programmes 1 and 3].

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1st AuthorMormede, S.AuthorMormede, S.Dunn, A.Parker, S.Hanchet, S.Year2017JournalFisheries ResearchVolume190Pages164-174DOI10.1016/j.fishres.2017.02.015URLhttps://www.scopus.com/inward/recor.....b1e17b4479f7e5dcdd3765050Author KeywordsAntarctic toothfishMarine Protected AreaRoss SeaSpatial population model

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TypeArticleCitationMormede, S., Dunn, A., Parker, S. and Hanchet, S. (2017). Using spatial population models to investigate the potential effects of the Ross Sea region Marine Protected Area on the Antarctic toothfish population. Fisheries Research, 190: 164-174 IdentifierMormede2017Antarctica NZ supported?YesNZARI?No