Mismatches in scale between highly mobile marine megafauna and marine protected areas

Melinda G. Conners; Nicholas B. Sisson; Pierre D. Agamboue; Philip W. Atkinson; Alastair M. M. Baylis; Scott R. Benson; Barbara A. Block; Steven J. Bograd; Pablo Bordino; W. D. Bowen; Paul Brickle; Ignacio M. Bruno; Victoria Gonzalez Carman; Cory D. Champagne; Daniel E. Crocker; Daniel P. Costa; Tiffany M. Dawson; Tomo Deguchi; Heidi Dewar; Philip D. Doherty; Tomoharu Eguchi; Angela Formia; Brendan J. Godley; Rachel T. Graham; Christian Gredzens; Kristen Hart; Lucy A. Hawkes; Suzanne Henderson; Robert William Henry III; Luis A. Huckstadt; Ladd M. Irvine; Sarah S. Kienle; Carey E. Kuhn; Damian Lidgard; Stephanie A. Loredo; Bruce R. Mate; Kristian Metcalfe; Jacob Nzegoue; Carmen K. Kouerey Oliwina; Rachael A. Orben; Kiyoaki Ozaki; Richard Parnell; Elizabeth P. Pike; Patrick W. Robinson; Howard C. Rosenbaum; Fumio Sato; Scott A. Shaffer; Donna J. Shaver; Samantha E. Simmons; Brian J. Smith; Guy-Philippe Sounguet; Robert M. Suryan; David R. Thompson; Megan Tierney; Dominic Tilley; Hillary S. Young; Victoria Warwick-Evans; Michael J. Weise; Randall S. Wells; Bradley P. Wilkinson; Matthew J. Witt; Sara M. Maxwell

doi:10.3389/fmars.2022.897104

Mismatches in scale between highly mobile marine megafauna and marine protected areas

Frontiers in Marine Science

By: Melinda G. Conners, Nicholas B. Sisson, Pierre D. Agamboue, Philip W. Atkinson, Alastair M. M. Baylis, Scott R. Benson, Barbara A. Block, Steven J. Bograd, Pablo Bordino, W. D. Bowen, Paul Brickle, Ignacio M. Bruno, Victoria Gonzalez Carman, Cory D. Champagne, Daniel E. Crocker, Daniel P. Costa, Tiffany M. Dawson, Tomo Deguchi, Heidi Dewar, Philip D. Doherty, Tomoharu Eguchi, Angela Formia, Brendan J. Godley, Rachel T. Graham, Christian Gredzens, Kristen Hart, Lucy A. Hawkes, Suzanne Henderson, Robert William Henry III, Luis A. Huckstadt, Ladd M. Irvine, Sarah S. Kienle, Carey E. Kuhn, Damian Lidgard, Stephanie A. Loredo, Bruce R. Mate, Kristian Metcalfe, Jacob Nzegoue, Carmen K. Kouerey Oliwina, Rachael A. Orben, Kiyoaki Ozaki, Richard Parnell, Elizabeth P. Pike, Patrick W. Robinson, Howard C. Rosenbaum, Fumio Sato, Scott A. Shaffer, Donna J. Shaver, Samantha E. Simmons, Brian J. Smith, Guy-Philippe Sounguet, Robert M. Suryan, David R. Thompson, Megan Tierney, Dominic Tilley, Hillary S. Young, Victoria Warwick-Evans, Michael J. Weise, Randall S. Wells, Bradley P. Wilkinson, Matthew J. Witt, and Sara M. Maxwell

https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.897104

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Abstract

Marine protected areas (MPAs), particularly large MPAs, are increasing in number and size around the globe in part to facilitate the conservation of marine megafauna under the assumption that large-scale MPAs better align with vagile life histories; however, this alignment is not well established. Using a global tracking dataset from 36 species across five taxa, chosen to reflect the span of home range size in highly mobile marine megafauna, we show most MPAs are too small to encompass complete home ranges of most species. Based on size alone, 40% of existing MPAs could encompass the home ranges of the smallest ranged species, while only < 1% of existing MPAs could encompass those of the largest ranged species. Further, where home ranges and MPAs overlapped in real geographic space, MPAs encompassed < 5% of core areas used by all species. Despite most home ranges of mobile marine megafauna being much larger than existing MPAs, we demonstrate how benefits from MPAs are still likely to accrue by targeting seasonal aggregations and critical life history stages and through other management techniques.

Suggested Citation

Conners, M.G., Sisson, N.B., Agamboue, P.D., Atkinson, P., Baylis, A.M., Benson, S., Block, B.A., Bograd, S.J., Bordino, P., Bowen, W., Brickle, P., Bruno, I.M., Gonzalez Carman, V., Champagne, C.D., Crocker, D., Costa, D.P., Dawson, T.M., Deguchi, T., Dewar, H., Doherty, P.D., Eguchi, T., Formia, A., Godley, B.J., Graham, R.T., Gredzens, C., Hart, K., Hawkes, L.A., Henderson, S., Henry, R.W., Huckstadt, L.A., Irvine, L.M., Kienle, S.S., Kuhn, C., Lidgard, D., Loredo, S.A., Mate, B.R., Metcalfe, K., Nzegoue, J., Kouerey Oliwina, C.K., Orben, R.A., Ozaki, K., Parnell, R., Pike, E.P., Robinson, P.W., Rosenbaum, H.C., Sato, F., Shaffer, S.A., Shaver, D.J., Simmons, S.E., Smith, B., Sounguet, G., Suryan, R.M., Thompson, D.R., Tierney, M., Tilley, D., Young, H.S., Warwick-Evans, V., Weise, M.J., Wells, R.S., Wilkinson, B.P., Witt, M.J., and Maxwell, S.M., 2022, Mismatches in scale between highly mobile marine megafauna and marine protected areas: Frontiers in Marine Science, v. 9, 897104, 17 p., https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.897104.

ISSN: 2296-7745 (online)

Additional publication details
Publication type	Article
Publication Subtype	Journal Article
Title	Mismatches in scale between highly mobile marine megafauna and marine protected areas
Series title	Frontiers in Marine Science
DOI	10.3389/fmars.2022.897104
Volume	9
Publication Date	July 20, 2022
Year Published	2022
Language	English
Publisher	Frontiers Media S.A.
Contributing office(s)	Wetland and Aquatic Research Center
Description	897104, 17 p.