Marine Protected Areas and the Governance of Marine Ecosystems and Fisheries

Marine protected areas (MPAs) are spatially defined marine units in which one or more human activities—particularly fishing—are restricted or prohibited. They represent a precautionary and ecosystem-based approach to ocean management (Mangel 2000; Pikitch et al. 2004; Jones 2006). The 1992 Convention for Biological Diversity set a target for 10% of the global marine area to be designated as MPAs by 2010. Progress with designating MPAs is, however, slow, MPAs covering just 1.3% of the marine area and 3.2% of marine areas under national jurisdiction. Consequently, the deadline was recently extended to 2020. Nonetheless, in the past two decades there has been a rapid increase in MPA research and implementation throughout the world. If the governance of MPAs is improved in ways we describe here, MPAs and other place-based approaches will continue to be important tools for the management of marine resources

The role of competition in structuring primate communities under different productivity regimes in the Amazon

The factors responsible for the formation of Amazonian primate communities are not well understood. Here we investigated the influence of interspecific competition in the assembly of these communities, specifically whether they follow an assembly rule known as "favored states". According to this rule, interspecific competition influences final species composition, resulting in functional groups that are equally represented in the community.We compiled presence-absence data for primate species at 39 Amazonian sites in Brazil, contrasting two regions with distinct productivity regimes: the eutrophic Juruá River basin and the oligotrophic Negro River basin. We tested two hypotheses: that interspecific competition is a mechanism that influences the structure of Amazonian primate communities, and that competition has had a greater influence on the structure of primate communities in regions with low productivity, where resources are more limited. We used null models to test the statistical significance of the results, and found a non-random pattern compatible with the favored states rule in the two regions. Our findings suggest that interspecific competition is an important force driving primate community assembly regardless of productivity regimes

From anecdotes to scientific evidence? A review of recent literature on catch share systems in marine fisheries

International audienceIn response to concerns regarding the global status of living marine resources, there has been a worldwide tightening of fishery access regulations. This has led to growing interest in individual transferable catch share programs, a market-based allocation approach to distribute fishing rights. However, the economic, ecological, and social benefits of these systems are the subject of continued debate. Here, we review empirical studies of transferable catch share systems published over the past decade. Our results show that, despite some of these systems having been in place for more than 20 years, systematic empirical assessments of their impacts are still rare. Furthermore, methods used to assess the impacts of catch share systems to facilitate comparisons remain under development, making it difficult to derive general conclusions from existing studies