Selecting Areas where Fishing Is Permitted

Via PLoS ONE:
Natalie C. Ban and Amanda C. J. Vincent address the challenge to "secure a future for marine life while minimizing impacts on fishers and fishing communities."

Beyond Marine Reserves: Exploring the Approach of Selecting Areas where Fishing Is Permitted, Rather than Prohibited

Rather than selecting areas where fishing is banned – as is usually the case with spatial management – we assess the concept of designating areas where fishing is permitted. We use spatial catch statistics for thirteen commercial fisheries on Canada's west coast to determine the minimum area that would be needed to maintain a pre-ascribed target percentage of current catches. We found that small reductions in fisheries yields, if strategically allocated, could result in large unfished areas that are representative of biophysical regions and habitat types, and have the potential to achieve remarkable conservation gains.

Read the article at PLoS ONE.