An interdisciplinary evaluation of community-based TURF-reserves

Area of Science:

• Marine conservation science
• Fisheries management
• Social-ecological systems

Background:

• Small-scale fisheries are vital for coastal communities but face challenges like overexploitation.
• Territorial Use Rights for Fisheries (TURF) reserves combine use rights with no-take zones to improve fisheries performance.
• Mexico legally recognized 18 community-based TURF-reserves since 2012, but their effectiveness remains unevaluated.

Purpose of the Study:

• To holistically evaluate the effectiveness of community-based TURF-reserves in Mexico.
• To assess impacts on lobster density, benthic invertebrates, and fisher catches.
• To identify factors influencing the success or failure of these marine reserves.

Main Methods:

• Utilized causal inference techniques to analyze the impact of TURF-reserves.
• Applied the Social-Ecological Systems framework for a comprehensive evaluation.
• Focused on three coastal communities in Mexico with established TURF-reserves.

Main Results:

• Overall, TURF-reserves have not yet increased lobster density or catches.
• Potential reasons include reserve youth (6-10 years), insufficient size for mobile species, oceanographic variability, and pre-existing effective local management.
• Reserves show potential for benefiting sedentary invertebrates over longer periods.

Conclusions:

• Current Mexican TURF-reserves require more time and potentially larger areas to demonstrate significant ecological and socioeconomic benefits.
• These reserves may serve as a foundation for future, larger marine protected areas.
• Continued protection is expected to yield benefits for sedentary species, supporting long-term conservation goals.