Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-b95js Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-31T13:37:34.853Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Is the Cape Roux marine protected area (Saint-Raphaël, Mediterranean Sea) an efficient tool to sustain artisanal fisheries? First indications from visual censuses and trammel net sampling

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 October 2008

Catherine Seytre  and
Patrice Francour
Catherine Seytre
Affiliation:
EA 4228 ECOMERS, Université de Nice-Sophia Antipolis, Parc Valrose, 06108 Nice Cedex 2, France
Patrice Francour
Affiliation:
EA 4228 ECOMERS, Université de Nice-Sophia Antipolis, Parc Valrose, 06108 Nice Cedex 2, France
Get access

Abstract

In recent decades, marine reserves have been established either to protect ecosystem structure and biological diversity or to serve as management tools to counter the overexploitation of fish stocks. The Cape Roux marine protected area (MPA), in the Mediterranean Sea, was established in December 2003 for the management of artisanal fisheries and enhancement target fish stocks.

Monitoring of littoral fish assemblages (0–30 m depth) in this zone began one year after the MPA was set up. The survey was conducted at 6 stations, located inside and outside the MPA, using three methods: underwater visual census (UVC) on transects, UVC using a new fish assemblage survey technique (FAST), and experimental net fishing performed by a fisherman. The FAST indices were derived from visual censuses, performed along a random pathway, scoring species on a presence/absence basis and size on a 2-class basis. Indices were calculated seasonally, by applying “weights” according to species and size. This study presents results obtained between October 2005 and June 2007. In the protected area, the experimental fishing yielded significantly higher abundance and species richness, and the FAST method highlighted a decrease in seasonal fluctuations. These two complementary methods (UVC and experimental fishing) revealed the early changes in fish assemblages in response to protection. The FAST method employed here seems to be relevant for the study of artisanal fishery target fishes, as a low-cost and sensitive UVC method.

Keywords

Small-scale fisheryFish diversityUnderwater visual census methodsMarine protected areaMediterranean Sea
Type
Research Article
Information
Aquatic Living Resources , Volume 21 , Issue 3: Special Issue (Advances in Fisheries Analysis and Modelling – Reversible and Irreversible Changes in Fish Resources and their usage) , July 2008 , pp. 297 - 305
Copyright
© EDP Sciences, IFREMER, IRD, 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abesamis, R.A., Russ, G.R., Alcala, A.C., 2006, Gradients of abundance of fish across no-take marine reserve boundaries: evidence from Philippine coral reefs. Aquat. Conserv. Mar. Freshw. Ecosyst. 16, 349–371. CrossRef
Agardy, M.T., 1994, Advances in marine conservation: the role of marine protected areas. Trends Ecol. Evol. 9, 267–270. CrossRef
Anderson, M.J., 2006, Distance based tests for homogeneity of multivariate dispersions. Biometrics. 62, 245–253. CrossRef
Anderson M.J., Gorley R.N., 2007. PERMANOVA+ for PRIMER: Guide to software and statistical methods. Plymouth, PRIMER-E.
Carr, M.H., Raimondi, P.T., 1999, Marine protected areas as a precautionary approach to management. CalCOFI Rep. 40, 71–76.
Catanzano J., Cunningham S., Rey H., 2000, Fishery management in the Mediterranean: an evaluation of French effort-based management systems. IIFET 2000. Oregon, USA, Proceedings, pp. 1–6.
Clark K.R., Warwick R.M., 2001, Change in marine communities: an approach to statistical analysis and interpretation. 2nd edition, Plymouth, PRIMER-E Ltd.
Côté I.M., Mosqueira I., Reynolds J.D., 2001, Effects of marine reserve characteristics on the protection of fish populations: a meta-analysis. J. Fish Biol. 59 (suppl. A), 178–189.
Dufour, V., Jouvenel, J.-Y., Galzin, R., 1995, Study of a Mediterranean reef fish assemblage. Comparisons of population distributions between depths in protected and unprotected areas over one decade. Aquat. Living Resour. 8, 17–25.
Dugan J.E., Davis G.E. 1993. Applications of marine refugia to coastal fisheries management. Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 50, 2029–2042.
Francour, P., 1994, Pluriannual analysis of the reserve effect on ichthyofauna in the Scandola natural reserve (Corsica, northwestern Mediterranean). Oceanol. Acta 17, 309–317.
Francour P., 1999, A critical review of adult and juvenile fish sampling techniques in Posidonia oceanica seagrass beds. Naturalista Sicil. 23(suppl.), 33–57.
Francour, P., Harmelin, J.G., Pollard, D., Sartoretto, S., 2001, A review of marine protected areas in the northwestern Mediterranean region: sitting, usage, zonation and management. Aquat. Conserv. Mar. Freshw. Ecosyst. 11, 155–188. CrossRef
García-Rubies, A., Zabala, M., 1990, Effects of total fishing prohibition on the rocky fish assemblages of Medes Islands marine reserve (NW Mediterranean). Sci. Mar. 54, 317–328.
Gell, F.R., Roberts, C.M., 2003, Benefits beyond boundaries: the fishery effects of marine reserves. Trends Ecol. Evol. 18, 448–455. CrossRef
Guidetti, P., 2002, The importance of experimental design in detecting the effects of protection measures on fish in Mediterranean MPAs. Aquat. Conserv. Mar. Freshw. Ecosyst. 12, 619–634. CrossRef
Halpern, B.S., 2003, The impact of marine reserves: do reserves work and does reserve size matter ? Ecol. Appl. 13, S117–S137.
Halpern, B.S., Warner, R.R., 2002, Marine reserves have rapid and lasting effects. Ecol. Lett. 5, 361–366. CrossRef
Harmelin-Vivien, M., Francour, P., 1992, Trawling or visual censuses? Methodological bias in the assessment of fish populations in seagrass beds. PSZNI Mar. Ecol. 13, 41–51. CrossRef
Harmelin-Vivien, M., Harmelin, J.G., Chauvet, C., Duval, C., Galzin, R., Lejeune, P., Barnabé, G., Blanc, F., Chevalier, R., Duclerc, J., Lassère, G., 1985, Evaluation visuelle des peuplements et populations de poissons : méthodes et problèmes. Rev. Ecol. (Terre Vie) 40, 467–539.
Jennings S. 2001. Patterns and prediction of population recovery in marine reserves. Rev. Fish Biol. Fish. 10, 209–231.
Jouvenel, J.-Y., Pollard, D.A., 2001, Some effects of marine reserve protection on the population structure of two spearfishing target-fish species, Dicentrarchus labrax (Moronidae) and Sparus aurata (Sparidae), in shallow inshore waters, along a rocky coast in the northwestern Mediterranean sea. Aquat. Conserv. Mar. Freshw. Ecosyst. 11, 1–9. CrossRef
Juanes F. 2001, Mediterranean marine protected areas. Trends Ecol. Evol. 16, 169–170.
Macpherson E. 2000, Fishing effects on trophic structure of rocky littoral fish assemblages. in : Fishing down the Mediterranean food webs? CIESM Publ., Monaco, CIESM Workshop Ser. 12, 43–44.
Olver, C.H., Shuter, B.J., Minns, C.K., 1995, Toward a definition of conservation principles for fisheries management. Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 52, 1584–1594. CrossRef
Pinnegar, J.K., Polunin, N.V.C., Francour, P., Chemello, R., Harmelin-Vivien, M., Hereu, B., Milazzo, M., Zabala, M., 2000, Trophic cascades in fisheries and protected area management of benthic marine ecosystems. Environ. Conserv. 27, 179–200. CrossRef
Polunin, N.V.C., Roberts, C.M., 1993, Greater biomass and value of target coral-reef fishes in two small Caribbean marine reserves. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 100, 167–176. CrossRef
Roberts, C.M., Polunin, N.V.C., 1991, Are marine reserves effective in management of reef fisheries? Rev. Fish Biol. Fish. 1, 65–91. CrossRef
Russ, G.R., Alcala, A.C., 1996, Do marine reserves export adult fish biomass? Evidence from Apo Island, central Philippines. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 132, 1–9. CrossRef
Sumaila, U.R., 1998, Protected marine reserves as fisheries management tools: a bioeconomic analysis. Fish. Res. 37, 287–296. CrossRef