Catch Rate Affects Assessment of Protected Area Impacts
March 11, 2021
We examine the source of a discrepancy in study results and find catch rate composition to critically affect the underlying trends in data with which models are fit and are likely the source of the conflicting findings.
We assess the impact of marine national monument expansion on catch rates in Hawaii’s longline fishery, finding little, if any negative impact.
Another paper, recently published by Chan, also assesses the impact of Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument (PMNM) expansion, but finds, for vessels with a history of fishing in PMNM, expansion decreased catch rates by 7% and revenues by 9%.
We examine the source of this discrepancy and find catch rate composition to critically affect the underlying trends in data with which models are fit and are likely the source of the conflicting findings.
Sweeney JR. 2021. Catch rate composition affects assessment of protected area impacts. Nature Communications. 12:1-3. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-21607-4.