Project
California's marine fisheries policies strive to encourage growth
of commercial fisheries while protecting ecosystems. To further these policies,
the California Fish and Game Commission implemented several no-take marine
reserves (i.e., marine protected areas [MPAs]) within the Channel Island
National Marine Sanctuary (CINMS) in April 2003 [1]. This region is a major
fishing ground for California spiny lobster (Panulirus interruptus), and
the lobster industry has shown considerable concern about how these MPAs
may affect their fishery. In January 2004, we proposed to monitor these potential
effects by measuring juvenile and adult spillover from the MPAs into the
lobster fishery.
Our project's purpose is to measure juvenile and adult spillover
from CINMS MPAs into lobster fishing grounds. Our main objective is to collaboratively
develop methods to collect, organize, and analyze lobster fishery data both
inside and outside the MPAs through a long-term monitoring plan. To achieve
our objective, we select our study area, focus on three key aspects - collaboration,
a pilot study, and logbooks - and give recommendations.
Our Project Focus
| Collaboration | Collaboration between stakeholders, and its role in long-term monitoring. |
| Pilot Study | A detailed pilot study to assess lobster population demographics and behavior. |
| Logbooks | A historical baseline of catch data using landmarks in our study area. |
| Recommendations | Policy and practical advice for resource managers and other stakeholders. |
Marine Reserve Monitoring
At CINMS, current MPA monitoring programs focus on evaluating
ecosystem impacts of MPAs [2]; however, they deal with few fishery objectives.
For example, these programs do not study the effects of marine reserves on
abundance, distribution and movement patterns - yet these effects are vital
to fishery management.
Long-term monitoring provides quantitative information about
population size, growth rates, fertility patterns, and juvenile and adult
spillover between MPAs and fished areas. Resource managers can use these
data to evaluate effects of MPAs on fisheries to achieve management goals.
References
1. Ugoretz, J., Marine Protected Areas in NOAA's Channel
Islands National Marine Sanctuary. 2002, California Department of Fish and
Game: Sacramento. p. Vol 1&2.
2. Marine Protected Areas Monitoring Workshop. 2003, CINMS;
DFG; CINP: Bren School of Environmental Science and Management, University
of California, Santa Barbara.
Download
Download our reports, historical baseline, and other data.