Centre of Marine Sciences

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Organizational Unit

Publications

Fisher's perceptions about a marine protected area over time

Publication . Pita, Cristina Brice; Costa, Barbara Horta e; Franco, Gustavo; Coelho, Rui; Sousa, Inês; Gonçalves, Emanuel João; Gonçalves, Jorge M. S.; Erzini, Karim

The perceptions of fishers towards the Arrábida Marine Park, a marine protected area (MPA) in the west coast of Portugal, were studied through face-to-face interviews in two different moments of the MPA life cycle. Fishers' perceptions about the MPA and the impact it had on the fishing activity over time were identified just before the full implementation of the zoning and regulations of the management plan and 10 years later. This study aimed to investigate fishers' knowledge, acceptance and perceptions about the MPA changed with time, if support for the MPA was linked to the impact of the MPA on the fishing activity, and if fishers' perceptions about the impact of the MPA on the fishing activity match with local landings trends. Results show that although knowledge about the marine park significantly improved over time, fishers' acceptance did not. A decrease on fishers' support was not substantial but occurred. Issues such as the disagreement with regulations reinforced concerns raised during the implementation of the marine park, particularly in relation to the top-down decision-making, which commonly confers minor participation, recognition and legitimacy to fishers. Apparently, fisheries benefits were still not perceived by local fishers, though they are central for fishers' support. Further, the perceived negative impacts of the park seemed to be more related to social aspects and individual interests than to impacts on catches. Addressing adequate management, enforcement and participation of local fishers is still possible and are advocated here as to contribute to the expected socioecological outcomes and respective support, leading to the future successful performance of the Arrábida Marine Park. Assessing fishers’ perceptions towards an MPA over time is central and should be included on periodical socioecological monitoring and inform an effective adaptive management

2020Journal article

Open access

Against all odds: a tale of marine range expansion with maintenance of extremely high genetic diversity

Publication . Robalo, Joana; Francisco, Sara M.; Vendrell, Catarina; Lima, Cristina S.; Pereira, Ana; Brunner, Benedikt P.; Dia, Mamadou; Gordo, L. S.; Castilho, Rita

The displacement of species from equatorial latitudes to temperate locations following the increase in sea surface temperatures is among the significant reported consequences of climate change. Shifts in the distributional ranges of species result in fish communities tropicalisation, i.e., high latitude colonisations by typically low latitude distribution species. These movements create new interactions between species and new trophic assemblages. The Senegal seabream, Diplodus bellottii, may be used as a model to understand the population genetics of these invasions. In the last decades, this species has undergone an outstanding range expansion from its African area of origin to the Atlantic coast of the Iberian Peninsula, where now occurs abundantly. Mitochondrial and nuclear markers revealed a striking high haplotypic nucleotide and genetic diversity values, along with significant population differentiation throughout the present-day geographical range of the Senegal seabream. These results are not consistent with the central-marginal hypothesis, nor with the expectations of a leptokurtic distribution of individuals, as D. bellottii seems to be able to retain exceptional levels of diversity in marginal and recently colonised areas. We discuss possible causes for hyperdiversity and lack of geographical structure and subsequent implications for fisheries.

2020Journal article

Open access