Ban Natalie C, Vincent Amanda C J
Project Seahorse, Fisheries Centre, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
PLoS One. 2009 Jul 22;4(7):e6258. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0006258.
Marine populations have been declining at a worrying rate, due in large part to fishing pressures. The challenge is to secure a future for marine life while minimizing impacts on fishers and fishing communities.
Rather than selecting areas where fishing is banned -- as is usually the case with spatial management -- we assess the concept of designating areas where fishing is permitted. We use spatial catch statistics for thirteen commercial fisheries on Canada's west coast to determine the minimum area that would be needed to maintain a pre-ascribed target percentage of current catches. We found that small reductions in fisheries yields, if strategically allocated, could result in large unfished areas that are representative of biophysical regions and habitat types, and have the potential to achieve remarkable conservation gains.
Our approach of selecting fishing areas instead of reserves could help redirect debate about the relative values that society places on conservation and extraction, in a framework that could gain much by losing little. Our ideas are intended to promote discussions about the current status quo in fisheries management, rather than providing a definitive solution.
海洋生物种群数量一直在以令人担忧的速度下降，这在很大程度上归因于捕捞压力。面临的挑战是在尽量减少对渔民和渔业社区影响的同时，确保海洋生物的未来。
与空间管理通常采用的禁止捕鱼区域的做法不同，我们评估指定允许捕鱼区域的概念。我们利用加拿大西海岸13种商业渔业的空间捕捞统计数据，来确定维持当前捕捞量预先设定目标百分比所需的最小面积。我们发现，如果进行战略分配，渔业产量的小幅减少可能会产生大片未捕捞区域，这些区域代表生物物理区域和栖息地类型，并且有可能实现显著的保护效益。
我们选择捕鱼区域而非保护区的方法，有助于在一个失之甚少而获益良多的框架内，重新引导关于社会对保护和开发相对价值的辩论。我们的想法旨在促进对渔业管理现状的讨论，而非提供一个确定的解决方案。
