The perceptions of Scottish inshore fishers about marine protected areas

Assessing the socioeconomic effects of multiple-use MPAs in a European setting: A national stakeholders’ perspective

“…Similarly, fishers' relevance for and opposition to MPAs is well known (Jones, 2012;Mangi et al, 2011). Our results point, however, towards existing evidence on the different perceptions on multipleuse MPAs by towed-gear fishers (represented mostly by the National Federation of Fishermen's Organisations), strongly negatively affected by MPAs, and static-gear fishers (New Under Ten Fishermens Association), somehow negatively affected by MPAs, as suggested by Fleming and Jones (2012) and Pita et al (2013). Also, the perceptions by recreational users align largely with recent participatory experiences from MPA designation processes in parts of the UK, where recreational users mostly opposed new MPAs as a result of perceived new restrictions to their activities (Jones, 2012).…”

“…We attempted to make this set comprehensive and a balanced representation of the interests at stake and the effects resulting from MPA designation and enforcement by categorising 'bottom-up' and 'top-down' categories that were either positively or negatively involved with MPAs from a subjective a priori perspective. We also aimed to make this set of categories as discriminant as possible, thus disaggregating some broad categories such as the fishing sector into smaller subcategories by gear types according to their reported differential impact from marine conservation measures (Mangi et al, 2011;Pita et al, 2013).…”

“…For this, we also compared both 'fishing industry' categories, given their predicted different responses to MPAs (Mangi et al, 2011;Pita et al, 2013). We checked the normality of data using Shapiro-Wilk tests.…”

“…The study of the social and economic effects of MPA designation is often polarised, with different studies reporting either benefits (Hussain et al, 2010;Rees et al, 2014), or costs (Balmford et al, 2004;(de) Santo, 2013). When research portrays a more balanced picture of the socioeconomic effects of MPAs, evidence remains fragmented with studies looking at individual MPA effects on local stakeholders (Fleming and Jones, 2012;Mangi et al, 2011;Rees et al, 2013a) or at the effects of different MPAs on specific stakeholders, mainly fishers (Pita et al, 2013;Rees et al, 2013b).…”

Trust, confidence, and equity affect the legitimacy of natural resource governance

“…Furthermore, administration of commercial fishers takes place primarily through state fisheries agencies rather than through the GBRMPA. Commercial fishers are also often driven by a strong sense of individualism and have disparate goals and values (Marshall 2007, Pita et al 2013, which can make engagement in governance more difficult. Lack of trust in the GBRMPA may also be associated with many commercial fishers' perception that they were treated unfairly during the last GBRMP rezoning process (Lédée et al 2012).…”