Assessing spillover from Marine protected areas to adjacent fisheries

Assessing spillover from marine protected areas to adjacent fisheries: Baltic and North Seas, Atlantic EU Western Waters and Outermost Regions.

Summary: Marine protected areas (MPAs) are widely recognized as an important tool for biodiversity conservation and fisheries management. The potential for MPAs to provide fisheries benefits to adjacent waters remains debated. This study documents the first systematic review of empirical evidence for spillover (biomass of commercial fish species) from MPAs in the European Union and other temperate regions. 

Findings show that scientific evidence of ecological and fishery spillover is relatively sparse. The combination of MPA characteristics (its age, local context and whether it is part of a network) proved capable of predicting the occurrence of spillover and therefore these are key considerations for the design of MPAs. Species mobility and reproductive strategies are important traits in explaining occurrence of spillover.

Using the literature available and study quantitative analyses, a conceptual model tool was developed to estimate the likelihood of spillover for existing and proposed MPAs. Qualitative and quantitative approaches were used to evaluate ecological and/or fishery spillover effects for 15 case studies from across Europe.

Annex 6: Case Study Report