Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-fscjk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T22:21:20.904Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Assessment of the effectiveness of South Africa's marine protected areas at representing ichthyofaunal communities

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 April 2012

SOFÍA SOLANO-FERNÁNDEZ ,
COLIN G. ATTWOOD ,
RUSSELL CHALMERS ,
BARRY M. CLARK ,
PAUL D. COWLEY ,
TRACEY FAIRWEATHER ,
SEAN T. FENNESSY ,
ALBRECHT GÖTZ ,
TREVOR D. HARRISON  and
SVEN E. KERWATH
...Show all authors
SOFÍA SOLANO-FERNÁNDEZ
Affiliation:
Percy FitzPatrick Institute, DST/NRF Centre of Excellence, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch 7701, South Africa
COLIN G. ATTWOOD*
Affiliation:
Marine Research Institute, Private Bag X3, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch 7701, South Africa
RUSSELL CHALMERS
Affiliation:
Department of Ichthyology and Fisheries Science, Rhodes University, PO Box 94, Grahamstown 6140, South Africa
BARRY M. CLARK
Affiliation:
Anchor Environmental, Suite 8, Steenberg House, Steenberg Office Park, Steenberg Road, Tokai 7945, South Africa
PAUL D. COWLEY
Affiliation:
South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity, Private Bag 1015, Grahamstown 6140, South Africa
TRACEY FAIRWEATHER
Affiliation:
Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Private Bag X2, Roggebaai 8012, South Africa
SEAN T. FENNESSY
Affiliation:
Oceanographic Research Institute, PO Box 10712, Marine Parade, Durban 4056, South Africa
ALBRECHT GÖTZ
Affiliation:
Elwandle Node, South African Environmental Observation Network, Private Bag 1015, Grahamstown 6140, South Africa
TREVOR D. HARRISON
Affiliation:
Water Management Unit, Northern Ireland Environment Agency, 17 Antrim Road, Lisburn BT28 3AL, UK
SVEN E. KERWATH
Affiliation:
Marine Research Institute, Private Bag X3, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch 7701, South Africa Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Private Bag X2, Roggebaai 8012, South Africa
STEPHEN J. LAMBERTH
Affiliation:
Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Private Bag X2, Roggebaai 8012, South Africa
BRUCE Q. MANN
Affiliation:
Oceanographic Research Institute, PO Box 10712, Marine Parade, Durban 4056, South Africa
MALCOLM J. SMALE
Affiliation:
Port Elizabeth Museum at Bayworld, PO Box 13147, Humewood 6103, South Africa Department of Zoology, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, PO Box 77000, Port Elizabeth 6013, South Africa, and
LIEZE SWART
Affiliation:
Department of Environmental Affairs, Private Bag X2, Roggebaai 8012, South Africa
*
*Correspondence: Dr Colin G. Attwood e-mail: Colin.Attwood@uct.ac.za
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

National and international policies have encouraged the establishment of a representative network of marine protected areas (MPAs) in South Africa, with the aim of protecting marine biodiversity. The extent to which these marine and estuarine protected areas (EPAs) represent marine fish species and communities was assessed by comparing their species compositions with those of exploited areas, as sampled using four fishing techniques. Seven hundred fish species were sampled, representing one-third of South Africa's marine fishes. MPAs in coastal habitats scored c. 40% on the Bray-Curtis measure of similarity for species representativeness, but this score declined markedly for offshore ‘trawlable’ fishing grounds. The combined effects of sampling error, temporal variation and the effects of fishing on relative abundance suggest that 80% similarity would be the maximum achieveable. Forty-nine per cent of all fish species that were recorded were found in the 14 MPAs sampled. Redundancy in the MPA network was low, with fish species most commonly being represented in only one MPA or absent. There was greater redundancy in the 33 EPAs, with 40% of species being found in two or more EPAs, but many of these estuaries were adjacent to each other and embedded in large MPAs. Deep water fish communities (>80 m deep) and communities located on the west and south-east coasts of South Africa were most poorly represented by MPAs. Routine fishery surveys provide a robust and repeatable opportunity to assess species representativeness in MPAs, and the method used could form the basis of an operational definition of ‘representative’. In contrast to an assessment based on presence-absence data, this analysis of quantitative data presents a more pessimistic assessment of protection.

Keywords

biodiversity conservationestuarine protected areasmarine fishesmarine protected areasSouth Africa
Type
THEMATIC SECTION: Temperate Marine Protected Areas
Information
Environmental Conservation , Volume 39 , Issue 3: Thematic section. Temperate Marine Protected Areas , September 2012 , pp. 259 - 270
Copyright
Copyright © Foundation for Environmental Conservation 2012

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

Anderson, R., Bolton, J.J. & Stegenga, H. (2009) Using the biogeographical distribution and diversity of seaweed species to test the efficacy of marine protected areas in the warm-temperate Agulhas Marine Province, South Africa. Diversity and Distributions 15: 1017–1027.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anderson, T.J., Nichol, S.L., Syms, C., Przeslawski, R. & Harris, P.T. (2011) Deep-sea bio-physical variables as surrogates for biological assemblages, an example from the Lord Howe Rise. Deep-Sea Research Part II 58 (7–8): 979–991.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Attwood, C.G. (2003) Dynamics of the fishery for galjoen (Dichistius capensis) with an assessment of monitoring methods. South African Journal of Marine Science 25: 311–330.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Attwood, C.G., Peterson, S. & Kerwath, S. (2011) Bycatch in South Africa's inshore trawl fishery as determined from observer records. ICES Journal of Marine Science 68 (10): 2163–2174.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Attwood, C.G., Mann, B.Q., Beaumont, J. & Harris, J.M. (1997) Review of the state of marine protected areas in South Africa. South African Journal of Marine Science 18: 341–368.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brouwer, S.L., Mann, B.Q., Lamberth, S.J., Sauer, W.W.H. & Erasmus, C. (1997) A survey of the South African shore-angling fishery. South African Journal of Marine Science 18: 165–177.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carr, M.H., Neigel, J.E., Estes, J.A., Andelman, S., Warner, R.R. & Largier, J.L. (2003) Comparing marine and terrestrial ecosystems: implications for the design of coastal marine reserves. Ecological Applications 13 (1): S90–S107.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
CBD (2008) Marine and coastal biodiversity. In: Decision adopted by the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity at its ninth meeting, 19 to 30 May 2008. Agenda item 4.9. United Nations Environment Programme [www document]. URL http://www.cbd.int/decisions/cop/?m=cop-09 Google Scholar
Clarke, K.R. & Warwick, R.M. (2001) Change in Marine Communities: an Approach to Statistical Analysis and Interpretation. Plymouth, UK: PRIMER-E: 172 pp.Google Scholar
Currie, D.R., Sorokin, S.J. & Ward, C.D. (2009) Infaunal macroinvertebrate assemblages of the eastern Great Australian Bight: effectiveness of a marine protected area in representing the region's benthic biodiversity. Marine and Freshwater Research 60: 459–474.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Emanuel, B.P., Bustamante, R.H., Branch, G.M., Eekhout, S. & Odendaal, F.J. (1992) A zoogeographic and functional approach to the selection of marine reserves on the west coast of South Africa. South African Journal of Marine Science 12: 341–354.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fennessy, S.T. & Groenewald, J.C. (1997) A review of the offshore trawl fishery for crustaceans on the east coast of South Africa. Fisheries Management and Ecology 4: 135–137.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Field, J.C., Punt, A.E., Methot, R.D. & Thomson, C.J. (2006) Does MPA mean ‘major problem for assessments’. Considering the problems of place-based management systems. Fish and Fisheries 7: 284–302.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grantham, H.S., Petersen, S.L. & Possingham, H.P. (2008) Reducing bycatch in the South African pelagic long-line fishery: the utility of different approaches to fisheries closures. Endangered Species Research 5: 291–299.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Griffiths, C.L., Robinson, T.B., Lange, L. & Mead, A. (2010) Marine biodiversity in South Africa: an evaluation of current states of knowledge. PLoS ONE 5: e12008 [www document]. URL http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0012008 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Harrison, T.D. (2005) Ichthyofauna of South African estuaries in relation to the zoogeography of the region. Smithiana Bulletin 6. Grahamstown, South Africa: South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity: 27 pp.Google Scholar
Hutchings, K. & Lamberth, S.J. (2002) Bycatch in the gill net and beach-seine fisheries in the western Cape, South Africa, with implications for management. South African Journal of Marine Science 24: 227–241.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hutchings, K. & Lamberth, S.J. (2003) Likely impacts of an eastward expansion of the inshore gill-net fishery in the Western Cape, South Africa: implications for management. Marine and Freshwater Research 54 (1): 39–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
IUCN (2003) WPC Recommendation V.23 Protecting Marine Biodiversity and Ecosystem Processes through Marine Protected Areas beyond National Jurisdiction. In: Proceedings of the Vth IUCN World Parks Congress, Durban, South Africa, 8 to 17 September 2003, pp 194–196 [www document]. URL http://cmsdata.iucn.org/downloads/recommendationen.pdf Google Scholar
Jonathan, R.C.P. & Essington, T.E. (2011) Season- and depth-dependent variability of a demersal fish assemblage in a large fjord estuary (Puget Sound, Washington). Fishery Bulletin 109: 186–197.Google Scholar
Lapointe, N.W.R., Corkum, L.D. & Mandrak, N.E. (2006) A comparison of methods for sampling fish diversity in shallow offshore waters of large rivers. North American Journal of Fisheries Management 26: 503–513.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lombard, A.T., Strauss, T., Harris, J., Sink, K., Attwood, C. & Hutchings, L. (2004) South African National Spatial Biodiversity Assessment 2004: Technical Report. Volume 4: Marine Component. South African National Biodiversity Institute, Pretoria, South Africa.Google Scholar
Malan, D.E. & Swart, D.H. (1997) South African integrated coastal management and engineering: converging towards collision or collaboration? Transactions of the Royal Society of South Africa 52: 227–252 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Margules, C.R. & Pressey, R.L. (2000) Systematic conservation planning. Nature 405: 243–253.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Marine Living Resources Act (1998) Marine Living Resources Act. Government Gazette, 27 May 1998, no. 18930 [www document]. URL http://www.info.gov.za/view/DownloadFileAction?id=70675 Google Scholar
National Biodiversity Act (2004) National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act. Government Gazette, 7 June 2004, no. 26436 [www document]. URL http://faolex.fao.org/docs/pdf/saf45083.pdf Google Scholar
NECR (2009) Representativity and replication for a coherent network of marine protected areas in England's territorial waters. Natural England Commissioned Report NECR018, ISSN 2040–5545 [www document]. URL http://naturalengland.etraderstores.com/NaturalEnglandShop/NECR018 Google Scholar
Pollock, K.H., Jones, C.M. & Brown, T.L. (1994) Angler survey methods and their applications in fisheries management. American Fisheries Society Special Publication 25: i–xvii, 1–371.Google Scholar
Pomeroy, R., Parks, J. & Watson, L. (2003) How is your MPA Doing: Guidebook of Natural and Social Indicators for Evaluating Marine Protected Area Management Effectiveness. Gland, Switzerland: IUCN: 236 pp.Google Scholar
Protected Areas Amendment Act (2004) National Environmental Management: Protected Areas Amendment Act, 2004. Government Gazette, 11 February 2005, no. 27274 [www document]. URL http://faolex.fao.org/docs/pdf/saf27274.pdf Google Scholar
Rademeyer, R.A., Butterworth, D.S. & Plagányi, É.E. (2008) Assessment of the South African hake resource taking its two-species nature into account. African Journal of Marine Science 30: 263–290.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sink, K. & Attwood, C.G. (2008) Guidelines for offshore marine protected areas in South Africa. SANBI Biodiversity Series 9. South African National Biodiversity Institute, Pretoria, South Africa: 18 pp.Google Scholar
Smith, K.F. & Brown, J.H. (2002) Patterns of diversity, depth range and body size among pelagic fishes along a gradient of depth. Global Ecology and Biogeography 11: 313–322.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stevens, T. (2002) Rigor and representativeness in marine protected area design. Coastal Management 30: 327–248.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Trenkel, V.M., Lorance, P. & Mahévas, S. (2004) Do visual transects provide true population density estimates for deepwater fish? ICES Journal of Marine Science 61 (7): 1050–1056.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tunley, K. (2009) State of management of South Africa's marine protected areas. WWF South Africa Report Series – 2009/Marine/001 [www document]. URL http://awsassets.wwf.org.za/downloads/mpastateofmanagementreport04nov2009weblowerdpi.pdf Google Scholar
Turpie, J.K., Adams, J.B., Joubert, A., Harrison, T.D., Colloty, B.M., Maree, R.C., Whitfield, A.K., Wooldridge, T.H., Lamberth, S.J., Taljaard, S. & Van Niekerk, L. (2002) Assessment of the conservation priority status of South African estuaries for use in management and water allocation. Water SA 28: 191–206.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Turpie, J.K., Beckley, L.E. & Katua, S.M. (2000) Biogeography and the selection of priority areas for conservation of South African coastal fishes. Biological Conservation 92: 59–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Turpie, J.K., Wilson, G. & van Niekerk, L. (2010) South African estuary conservation plan 2010. Unpublished report for the National Biodiversity Assessment 2010. South African National Biodiversity Institute, Pretoria, South AfricaGoogle Scholar
United Nations (2002) Protecting and managing the natural resource base of economic and social development. In: Report of the World Summit on Sustainable Development, Johannesburg, South Africa, 26 August to 4 September 2002, 25 pp. [www document] URL http://www.un.org/jsummit/html/documents/documents.html Google Scholar
Von der Heyden, S. (2009) Why do we need to integrate population genetics into South African marine protected area planning? African Journal of Marine Science 31 (2): 263–270 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wallace, J.H., Kok, H.M., Buxton, C.D. & Bennett, B. (1984) Inshore small-mesh trawling survey of the Cape south coast. Part 1. Introduction, methods, stations and catches. South African Journal of Zoology 19: 154–164.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Watson, D.L., Harvey, E.S., Fitzpatrick, B.M., Langlois, J.T, & Shedrawi, G. (2010) Assessing reef fish assemblage structure: how do different stereo-video techniques compare? Marine Biology 157: 1237–1250.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Whitfield, A.K. (1994) An estuary association classification for the estuarine fishes of southern Africa. South African Journal of Science 90: 411–417.Google Scholar
Whitfield, A.K. (1997) Fish conservation in South African estuaries. Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems 7: 1–11.3.0.CO;2-8>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Whitfield, A.K. (1999) Ichthyofaunal assemblages in estuaries: A South African case study. Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries 9: 151–186.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williams, A., Koslow, J.A. & Last, P.R. (2001) Diversity, density and community structure of the demersal fish fauna of the continental slope off western Australia (20 to 35 degrees S). Marine Ecology Progress Series 212: 247–263.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Willis, T.J., Millar, R. & Babcock, C. (2000) Detection of spatial variability in relative density of fishes: comparison of visual census, angling, and baited underwater video. Marine Ecology Progress Series 198: 249–260.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yemane, D., Field, J.G. & Leslie, R.W. (2010) Spatio-temporal patterns in the diversity of demersal fish communities off the south coast of South Africa. Marine Biology 157: 269–281.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zietsman, L. (2011) Observations on Environmental Change in South Africa. Stellenbosch, South Africa: Sun Media: 303 pp.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Attwood supplementary material

Appendix

Download Attwood supplementary material(File)
File 143.4 KB