Some implications of proposed Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in the Prince Edward Islands vicinity for the toothfish (Dissostichus eleginoides) fishery

• Main Authors: Butterworth, Doug S, Brandão, Anabela
• Format: Report
• Language: English
• Published: University of Cape Town 2007
• Subjects: Prince Edward Islands
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/18986; https://open.uct.ac.za/bitstream/11427/18986/1/Butterworth_Some_implications_2007.pdf

About half the legal fishing for toothfish around the Prince Edward Islands takes place within the MPAs for this region proposed in Nel (2006). Furthermore, the nominal CPUE outside these MPAs averages 13% less than the CPUE inside, so that curtailment of fishing inside these MPAs could compromise the viability of what is at present an economically marginal operation, with detrimental consequence for the deterrent that this legal fishing activity provides to IUU operations. It is unclear how the proposed MPAs could achieve their stated objectives of contributing to the recovery of the toothfish resource in the area, and of serving as a reference given the likely poor power to discriminate change indicated by illustrative statistical computations. Introduction of these MPAs might also compromise assessment and management approaches for the resource. Discussions between stakeholders should be held in the near future to decide whether a (possibly amended) proposal for MPAs in the region should be taken further, and if so how any consequent implications for assessment and management are best addressed.