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A path forward for analysing the impacts of marine protected areas

Nature volume 607, pages E1–E2 (2022)Cite this article

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Matters Arising to this article was published on 06 July 2022

The Original Article was published on 17 March 2021

arising from: E. Sala et al. Nature https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-03371-z (2021)

Sala et al.1 propose that a global network of marine protected areas (MPAs) could have positive impacts. Their analysis suggests that such a network could improve global biodiversity, reduce carbon released by trawling and increase yields from the world’s fisheries. However, Sala et al.1 made inconsistent assumptions about how fishing fleets would respond to closed areas, they did not have data on many important fish stocks and fishing efforts in South and Southeast Asia, and their models did not include the enormous uncertainty in the effects of trawling on CO2 flux in sediments. We suggest that such an analysis should be done at regional scales for which good data are available, that it is recognized that when areas are closed, fishing effort moves but does not disappear, and that models should explicitly consider the wide range of uncertainties.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences and Center for Sustaining Seafood, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

    Ray Hilborn

  2. The Lyell Centre, Institute of Life and Earth Sciences, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, UK

    Michel J. Kaiser

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  1. Ray Hilborn
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  2. Michel J. Kaiser
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Both authors contributed to the ideas and writing of the paper.

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Correspondence to Ray Hilborn.

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Competing interests

M.J.K. is currently funded by Natural Environmental Research Council (UKRI-GCRF), EDP Renewables, Fishmongers Company, Macduff Shellfish Ltd, Scottish Whitefish Producers Organisation, Sainsbury’s Supermarkets Ltd, The Cooperative, CISCO and Defra Seafood Innovation Fund. Less than 1% of his current funding is from fishing organizations. R.H. receives research funding from many groups that have interests in fisheries outcomes including environmental nongovernmental organizations, foundations, governments and fishing industry groups.

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Hilborn, R., Kaiser, M.J. A path forward for analysing the impacts of marine protected areas. Nature 607, E1–E2 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-04775-1

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