Criticisms of science, social impacts, opinion leaders, and targets for no‐take zones led to cuts in New South Wales' (Australia) system of marine protected areas

Fish conservation in freshwater and marine realms: status, threats and management

“…The existence and magnitude of these responses depends upon a reserve's area, age, extent of fishing exclusion, degree of isolation from surrounding habitats, and compliance with management regulations (Ballantine, ; Edgar et al, ). Despite these benefits, the implementation of marine reserves has been contentious with some stakeholder groups (Agardy et al, ; Voyer et al, ; Gladstone, ) or criticised for not adequately protecting biodiversity (Edgar, ; Devillers et al, ). Progress in the appropriate use, site selection and design of marine reserves needs to address questions relating to the ability of reserves to meet both biodiversity and socio‐economic objectives, the impacts of climate change, efficacy of surrogates for biodiversity and socio‐economics, opportunity costs, and their place in ecosystem‐based management (Devillers et al, ; Fulton et al, ; Ruiz‐Frau et al, ).…”

Implications for the Conservation of Deep-Water Corals in the Face of Multiple Stressors: A Case Study from the New Zealand Region

“…Successful establishment of marine protected areas depends on the early establishment of agreed conservation goals, objectives and methods (e.g., Fernandes et al, 2009;Spalding and Hale, 2016;Álvarez-Romero et al, 2018;Fitzsimons and Wescott, 2018;Sala et al, 2021). Obtaining this agreement includes consultation with established resource users such as commercial and recreational fishers who will be affected by the implementation of protection (Capitini et al, 2004;Jones, 2007); failure to achieve 'buy-in' can easily undermine an otherwise effective design process (e.g., Capitini et al, 2004;Christie, ;Gladstone, 2014). The use of multi-criteria spatial planning approaches that explicitly consider competing resource uses, including biodiversity protection, fishing, and/or energy generation (e.g., Leathwick et al, 2008;Yates et al, 2015;Sala et al, 2021) can play an important role in building this acceptance (Melià, 2017).…”