Source-sink population dynamics and the problem of siting marine reserves
Crowder, L.B.; Lyman, S.J.; Figueira, W.F.; Priddy, J. (2000). Source-sink population dynamics and the problem of siting marine reserves. Bull. Mar. Sci. 66(3): 799-820
In: Bulletin of Marine Science. University of Miami Press: Coral Gables. ISSN 0007-4977; e-ISSN 1553-6955, more
Also appears in:Coleman, F.C.; Travis, J.; Thistle, A.B. (Ed.) (2000). Essential fish habitat and marine reserves: Proceedings of the 2nd William R. and Lenore Mote International Symposium in Fisheries Ecology, November 4-6, 1998, Sarasota, Florida. Bulletin of Marine Science, 66(3). Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences: Miami. 525-1009 pp., more
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| Authors | | Top |
- Crowder, L.B.
- Lyman, S.J.
- Figueira, W.F.
- Priddy, J.
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| Abstract |
Marine protected areas (MPAs) have been proposed as one way to reduce the problems of overfishing and to respond to uncertainty in fisheries management. Many fisheries, including tropical and temperate reef fisheries, are inherently multispecies, multigear fisheries and are difficult to manage by traditional methods. Clearly, these fisheries should benefit from the establishment of no-take marine reserves, but the track record to date for fisheries benefits of MPAs is mixed or poorly documented. Because siting of reserves depends upon both scientific and sociological input, the lack of critical scientific information on source-sink population structure of reef fishes can potentially lead to MPA placement that can damage rather than enhance fisheries. In this paper, we develop a simple, spatially explicit model to address a series of hypotheses regarding MPA effects on fisheries. Our hypotheses include: (1) a system in which reserves are placed in source habitats is superior to one in which they are placed at random or in sink habitats; (2) the importance of source-sink population structure is increased if fishing effort is displaced rather than reduced; (3) as the proportion of the environment consisting of poor-quality (sink) habitat increases, proper siting of MPAs becomes increasingly important; and (4) if the environment contains directional currents, the spatial location of reserves will be critical to population enhancement. Our results suggest that, if reef fishes have source-sink population dynamics, siting reserves on the basis of sociological criteria alone may be risky. We need to understand source-sink population dynamics to site MPAs properly. |
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