Journal article
Novel methods for the design and evaluation of marine protected areas in offshore waters
John Leathwick, Atte Moilanen, Malcolm Francis, Jane Elith, Paul Taylor, Kathryn Julian, Trevor Hastie, Clinton Duffy
CONSERVATION LETTERS | WILEY | Published : 2008
Abstract
Abstract There is strong international agreement on the need for marine protected areas to reverse pervasive human impacts on the oceans' biodiversity. However, their implementation is often hampered both by legal difficulties in defining reserves in international waters and the patchy nature of data in many offshore waters. We demonstrate the use of recent advances in statistical learning and conservation prioritization to produce MPA scenarios with varying costs and benefits for New Zealand's Exclusive Economic Zone, based on the analyses of distributions of 96 demersal fish species. MPAs based on our most cost‐effective scenario would deliver conservation benefits nearly..
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Awarded by New Zealand Foundation for Research Science and Technology
Awarded by ARC
Awarded by Australian Research Council
Funding Acknowledgements
We thank B. Cooper, C. Lundquist, M. Pinkerton, and M. Pritchard for perceptive comments on the article, and B. Sharp (Ministry of Fisheries) for his interaction on technical issues. Financial support was provided by the New Zealand Foundation for Research Science and Technology (C01X0502), Department of Conservation, and Ministry of Fisheries. A. M. was supported by funding from the Academy of Finland and by ACERA, University of Melbourne, and J.E. by ARC grant DP0772671. The trawl data used to model species distributions came from the New Zealand Ministry of Fisheries research trawl database, which was subsequently groomed extensively by NIWA staff. We thank the Ministry of Fisheries for access to commercial trawl start locations for the 2005 year.