Introduction 285MPAs, stock assessments and spatial modelling in marine ecosystems 286The role of fisheries science in management 287 Fishery-dependent information 288Life-history information 290Catch demographic data 291Fishery-independent surveys 291Spatial variability and movement patterns 293Structure of assessment models 293Fisheries management objectives and obligations 296 Abstract Marine protected areas (MPAs) have been increasingly proposed, evaluated and implemented as management tools for achieving both fisheries and conservation objectives in aquatic ecosystems. However, there is a challenge associated with the application of MPAs in marine resource management with respect to the consequences to traditional systems of monitoring and managing fisheries resources. The place-based paradigm of MPAs can complicate the population-based paradigm of most fisheries stock assessments. In this review, we identify the potential complications that could result from both existing and future MPAs to the science and management systems currently in place for meeting conventional fisheries management objectives. The intent is not to evaluate the effects of implementing MPAs on fisheries yields, or even to consider the extent to which MPAs may achieve conservation oriented objectives, but rather to evaluate the consequences of MPA implementation on the ability to monitor and assess fishery resources consistent with existing methods and legislative mandates. Although examples are drawn primarily from groundfish fisheries on the West Coast of the USA, the lessons are broadly applicable to management systems worldwide, particularly those in which there exists the institutional infrastructure for managing resources based on quantitative assessments of resource status and productivity.

Nested logit models are increasingly being used to value environmental amenities. The implications of nesting structure, choice of estimator (FIML or sequential), and restrictions on parameters across nested groups on welfare estimates are examined. These issues have received little previous attention. Model selection criteria that can be used to distinguish among the models are extended and applied. Additionally, a simulation procedure is implemented to construct standard errors for the welfare measures. Copyright 1996, Oxford University Press.

No abstract

Quantifying spatiotemporal dynamics of ecosystem services is an emerging approach for informing and managing trade-offs among cumulative or competing activities in marine environments. As one proxy for ecosystem services and benefits, we quantified and mapped catch and economic value of California commercial fisheries removals using a 75-year spatially explicit time series. From 1931 to 2005, approximately 88% of the catch was attributed to finfish. However, there has been an increasing reliance of proportional value from invertebrates over the last 25 years. The spatial organization of historical catches suggests species composition varies substantially by depth and latitude, and an evaluation of changes in the spatial distribution of catches in three different time periods suggests that spatial shifts in catch locations have occurred for some taxonomic groups over time. A spatial assessment of historical catches and value benefits marine spatial planning, informs stock assessments, provides a quantification of ecosystem services, and facilitates ecosystem-based approaches to marine fisheries management.