Recently created Large-Scale Marine Protected Areas (LSMPAs) like Revillagigedo in Mexico are potentially large enough to protect highly migratory species like tuna, especially bigeye tuna, possibly leading to increases in catch rates for tuna fisheries operating outside their boundaries. The findings were published in Science on Dec. 12, 2024.
“We found that the spillover benefits, measured as the change in catch rates, are strongest just outside the boundaries of these MPAs and get stronger over time,” said Juan Carlos Villaseñor-Derbez, a co-author of the study and an assistant professor in the Department of Environmental Science and Policy at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science, and a core faculty member at the Frost Institute for Data Science and Computing. “The effects were strongest for the MPAs that were heavily fished prior to protection and are now well-enforced.”
