Seminar on MPA Management
![](https://drupalarchive.oregonshores.org/sites/default/files/styles/bear_full_1x/public/sites/default/files/media-library/marine_reserves/marine_reserves_fish_congregating_odfw.jpg?itok=2KT1XVSt)
The HMSC Seminar series at the Hatfield Marine Science Center (HMSC) will feature a talk on managing marine protected areas on Thursday, Oct. 10, 3:30 p.m. in the Guin Library seminar room at HMSC (2030 S.E. Marine Science Dr., in Newport’s South Beach area).
The speaker will be Will White of Oregon State University’s Department of Fisheries and Wildlife. His topic is “Linking models and data for adaptive management of Marine Protected Areas. Dr. White specializes in studying the population dynamics of the fish involved in nearshore fisheries, seeking better modeling of data that will assist managers. Here is his description of the talk’s subject:
“Marine protected areas (MPAs) are an increasingly common conservation and management tool worldwide. Typically, managers expect that previously fished populations will steadily increase inside MPAs as they return to unfished levels. However, the expectation of a steady, positive increase in population density inside MPAs is complicated by two factors: A) the expected increase depends on the level of fishing pre-MPA, which is usually unknown, and B) high variability in larval recruitment to populations in MPAs makes population trajectories variable. I use examples from southern and central California MPAs to show how we can use dynamic and statistical models to address these problems. First, I show how to estimate the pre-MPA fishing rate and make short-term forecasts for population trajectories. Then, in a more data-limited case, I show how statistical models reveal the strong influence of larval recruitment variability on overall fish abundance inside MPAs, but how MPA effects are still revealed by population size structure. Together these approaches can help guide short-term management decisions in an uncertain and highly variable coastal environment.”
For a live broadcast of the talk, go here.