Effectiveness of small locally-managed marine protected areas for coral reef fisheries management in the Philippines

Muallil, Richard N.; Deocadez, Melchor R.; Martinez, Renmar Jun S.; Mamauag, Samuel S; Nañola, Cleto L.; Aliño, Porfirio M.

doi:10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2019.104831

Cited by 25 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…Unsustainable fishing techniques as well as sediment and nutrient pollution can transition coral reef ecosystems from oligotrophic complex living coral reef structures with high biodiversity to eutrophic, macro-algae algae covered structures with reduced biodiversity (Mumby et al, 2007). Overfishing or destructive fishing practices exist in commercial or industrial fishing fleets as well as small-scale fishing (SSF) (Mora, 2008;Alfaro-Shigueto et al, 2010;Shester and Micheli, 2011;Selgrath et al, 2018;Muallil et al, 2019). Small-scale fishing, generally defined by small, man-or low-powered vessels, makes up at least 30% of global catch (Pauly and Zeller, 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the Philippines, biomass of fish has increased both inside and outside CBM marine reserves (Russ et al, 2003;Rare, 2018). While fish biomass is higher in marine reserves, the stocks themselves are generally overfished (Muallil et al, 2019). In addition to biomass for evaluating management strategies, fish community structure is also needed because total biomass does not account for the diversity of species contributing to that biomass.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Implications of Community-Based Management of Marine Reserves in the Philippines for Reef Fish Communities and Biodiversity

Marriott

Cox²,

Amolo³

et al. 2021

Front. Mar. Sci.

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Overfishing and destructive fishing practices are major threats to marine biodiversity in the Philippines, where over 1.9 million small-scale fishers are supported by these biodiverse marine communities. Nearly 50% of all marine fish capture in the Philippines is from artisanal fisheries, with much of it not reported or under-reported. Marine reserves, where fishing is prohibited have been created in many local government units to help restore and preserve this biodiversity. The success of these marine reserves is still under serious debate with effective management still representing a significant challenge. The lack of a governance system to centrally managed marine reserves has resulted in non-governmental organizations developing community-based management schemes. Using independent fisheries data from Rare’s Fish Forever program, we applied PERMANOVA, SIMPER and biodiversity index analyses to evaluate the community structure of reef fish in 20 sites within the Philippines. We analyzed the differences in fish assemblage inside and outside of these marine reserves, before and after community-based management had been implemented. We provide evidence that: (i) fish community structure changes within marine reserves after community-based management strategies are implemented; and (ii) community-based management of marine fisheries resources protects and promotes biodiversity inside, and in some cases, outside marine reserves. Variability across sites suggests that other social or ecological factors may be influencing the ability of marine reserves to fully protect biodiversity and marine resources. Small-scale fishers in the Philippines participate in mixed-catch harvests and depend on biodiversity and reef community structure for their livelihoods. Thus, this work has implications on how community-based management strategies for marine reserves and adjacent waters may be beneficial for the sustainability of small-scale fishers.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Implications of Community-Based Management of Marine Reserves in the Philippines for Reef Fish Communities and Biodiversity

Marriott

Cox²,

Amolo³

et al. 2021

Front. Mar. Sci.

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“…Even a successful MPA which has seen recovery for three decades can be severely damaged by storms resulting in reduced fish densities (Abesamis et al, 2018). Furthermore, overfishing is the greatest threat in Philippine reefs (Burke et al, 2012) that a recent estimate quantified that reefs inside MPAs are greatly overfished, although not as bad as unprotected reefs (Muallil et al, 2019). In expanding the spatial extent of protection, the representation of different ecologically interconnected areas, replication of sites, and the consideration of less affected reefs would buffer the risks experienced in potential MPA networks (McLeod et al, 2009;Burke et al, 2012).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatial Planning Insights for Philippine Coral Reef Conservation Using Larval Connectivity Networks

Pata

Yñiguez

2021

Front. Mar. Sci.

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The marine habitats of the Philippines are recognized to be some of the most biodiverse systems globally yet only 1.7% of its seas are designated as marine protected areas (MPAs) with varying levels of implementation. Many of these MPAs were established based on local-scale conservation and fisheries objectives without considering larger-scale ecological connections. The connectivity of reefs through larval dispersal is important in the regional-scale resilience against anthropogenic disturbances and is considered a significant criterion in planning for MPAs. In this study, we provide insights into the delineation of ecologically connected MPA networks using larval dispersal modeling and network analysis. We characterized the network properties of the Philippine coral reefs, organized as 252 reef nodes, based on the larval connectivity networks of a branching coral, sea urchin, and grouper. We then evaluated the distribution of the existing 1,060 MPAs relative to the connectivity patterns. All reef nodes were found to be highly interconnected with a mean shortest path ranging from 1.96 to 4.06. Reef nodes were then ranked according to their relative importance in regional connectivity based on five connectivity indices. Despite the between-organism and between-index variability in rankings, there were reefs nodes, mostly located offshore and at major straits, which consistently ranked high. We found that the distribution of existing MPAs partially capture some of the regional connectivity functions but there is a spatial mismatch between the primarily coastal MPAs and the high-ranking reef nodes. Furthermore, network partitioning identified subnetworks and dispersal barriers. The existing MPAs were found to be disproportionately distributed to a few subnetworks and that the largest subnetworks do not contain the greatest number of MPAs. Considering these gaps, we suggest expanding the coverage of protected areas especially in underrepresented reef networks to meaningfully capture national-scale connectivity and meet global conservation objectives.

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“…The date of establishment and size of MPAs were gathered from the local records of the respective LGU or management body. These data are shown in [1] and are also available in the MPA database which is maintained by the Marine Protected Area Support Network (MSN) based at the Marine Science Institute, University of the Philippines Diliman [7].…”

Section: Experimental Design Materials and Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The article includes transect-level (Table 1) and the mean biomass data per site (Table 2) of commercially important coral reef fishes collected from a total of 507 500-m 2 transects in 58 sites from 57 coastal municipalities/city and 20 provinces covering all the six biogeographic regions of the Philippines [1]. Thirty-three of the transects surveyed were from the nationally protected Tubbataha Reef National Marine Park (TRNMP) while the rest were from the locally managed marine protected areas (MPAs).…”

Section: Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Data on the biomass of commercially important coral reef fishes inside and outside marine protected areas in the Philippines

et al. 2019

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This article contains the data on fish biomass inside and outside 57 locally managed marine protected areas (MPAs) and within the nationally protected Tubbataha Reef National Marine Park (TRNMP) from 57 coastal municipalities and 20 provinces in the Philippines. It includes the seven major commercially important coral reef fishes, namely, the surgeonfish (family Acanthuridae), parrotfish (subfamily Scarinae, family Labridae), snappers (family Lutjanidae), groupers (subfamily Epinephelinae, family Serranidae), goatfish (family Mullidae), sweetlips (family Haemulidae) and emperor (family Lethrinidae). Fish visual census (FVC) surveys were done by scuba diving along 10 m × 50 m belt transects established on upper reef slope, mostly with depths ranging from 5 to 10 m. Four to twelve transects were surveyed for the locally managed MPAs, half of which were established inside MPAs and the other half outside MPAs. Thirty-three transects were surveyed for the TRNMP. FVC was performed by swimming slowly and stopping every 5 m to record all the fish within a 10 m - wide belt. All FVC surveys were conducted from 2006 to 2014 between 9:00–16:00 hours. Each fish was identified to the species level and total length (TL) was estimated to the nearest centimeter. Fish biomass was estimated using the relationship between length (L) and weight (W) with the equation W = aL b . The data we provide can be used for coral reef fisheries management and for monitoring and evaluation of coral reef fishes in the Philippines particularly for the MPAs included in this dataset. These data support the information presented in the article Muallil et al., 2019.

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Effectiveness of small locally-managed marine protected areas for coral reef fisheries management in the Philippines

Cited by 25 publications

References 29 publications

Implications of Community-Based Management of Marine Reserves in the Philippines for Reef Fish Communities and Biodiversity

Implications of Community-Based Management of Marine Reserves in the Philippines for Reef Fish Communities and Biodiversity

Spatial Planning Insights for Philippine Coral Reef Conservation Using Larval Connectivity Networks

Data on the biomass of commercially important coral reef fishes inside and outside marine protected areas in the Philippines

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