This DRAFT document presents the preliminary results of modelling work to assess the conservation benefits of no-take marine protected areas (no-take MPAs) to 10 teleost and elasmobranch species based on individual movements and relative abundances. This project is a collaboration between Dr Ross Dwyer (USC), Dr Nils Krueck (UTAS) and Prof Charlie Huveneers (Flinders), with the South Australian Government’s Department for Environment and Water as Industry Partners.
The MPA size decision support model was originally developed by Dr Nils Krueck (UTAS) and published here - https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/conl.12415. Dr Ross Dwyer (USC) and Dr Nils Krueck adapted this modelling framework to allow telemetry and BRUV datasets to be included as model inputs. The original paper was published here - https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982219316008?via%3Dihub.
Here, we apply this modelling framework to 6 teleost (Western Blue Groper, Bluethroat Wrasse, Harlequinn, Yellowtail Kingfish, Snapper, Silver Trevally), three shark (Bronze Whaler, Dusky Shark, White Shark) and one ray species (Southern Eagle Ray) to investigate the conservation effectiveness of existing no take reserves in South Australia for these species.
Effectiveness is measured by:
First we set the model parameters
# Set model parameters -------
case.study.region <- "SA_idealized"
resolution <- 100
dispersal.period <- "Weekly"
age <- "Maturity"
age2 <- "Max"
rBRUVcatchment <- 100Next we calculate the MPA size needed to achieve certain protection levels across the five measures of conservation effectiveness.
This section displays an interactive map of IUCN Cat II reserves in South Australian Waters. The dataset was sourced from the Australian Government Collaborative Australian Protected Area Database (CAPAD 2020) https://www.awe.gov.au/agriculture-land/land/nrs/science/capad. Areas are coloured according to (a) maximum reserve width or (b) the minimum distance between Cat II reserves.