The first-ever quantitative evaluation of the contribution of no-take Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) to the conservation of tropical tunas in the western and central Pacific Ocean (WCPO) has been published in Frontiers in Marine Science – and it indicates that for tuna at least, MPAs may not be an effective management tool.
Marine Protected Areas have been established by many countries in the Pacific and have been targeted at a range of different conservation issues, but at least one significant argument for their establishment has often been that they would have a positive impact on the regional tuna stock. This study casts doubt on that frequently-repeated claim.
