Effects of a large-scale and offshore marine protected area on demersal fish assemblage in the Southwest Atlantic

ALEMANY, D.; IRIBARNE, O.; ACHA, E. M.

ICES JOURNAL OF MARINE SCIENCE

OXFORD UNIV PRESS

Lugar: Oxford; Año: 2013 vol. 70 p. 123 - 134

1054-3139

There are few extensive and offshore located marine protected areas (MPAs) in the world oceans and their performance is still debated. We evaluated the effects of a large-scale offshore MPA located on the SW Atlantic Patagonian shelf (43ºS 63ºW) on the demersal fish assemblage. Compliance of the Patagonian MPA was assessed analyzing eight years of satellite vessel monitoring system (VMS; 2000-2008) data which showed compliance and fishing effort concentrated near the protection boundaries. MPA effects were studied employing a five years database collected by a scientific research vessel in protected and fishing locations, before and after the MPA establishment. We analyzed 152 scientific trawling stations using multivariate analysis of fish assemblage structure and of fish abundance, discriminating target and non-target species, and of mean size and proportion of juveniles of the target species (Argentine hake, Merluccius hubbsi). The identified MPA effects were an increasing abundance trend of the demersal fish assemblage, the target and non-target fish species, hake juvenile size and a higher proportion of juveniles aged 2+ inside the MPA. These positive trends are promising for offshore, large-scale MPAs.