Hydrobiologia

, 670:289 | Cite as

An overview of commercial fishers’ attitudes towards marine protected areas

  • Cristina Pita
  • Graham J. Pierce
  • Ioannis Theodossiou
  • Karen Macpherson
ECOSYSTEMS AND SUSTAINABILITY
First Online:

Abstract

Marine protected areas (MPAs) are attracting widespread attention worldwide as a tool for fishery management and marine ecosystem conservation. The establishment of MPAs has increased greatly in recent years mostly due to international commitments to the establishment of a global network of MPAs by 2012. MPAs have the potential to strongly affect the fishing industry, and their success depends, at least partly, on fishers’ attitudes towards this management measure. However, research on MPAs tends to focus on the ecological and conservation aspects of this management approach and not on its human dimensions. Studies in attitudes, perceptions, beliefs and preferences related to MPA issues have been identified as priority social science topics in need of research. We present a ‘rapid review’, conducted systematically, of the literature published up to September 2009 and aimed at identifying the most investigated topics related to commercial fishers’ attitudes towards MPAs, describing the main findings from these studies, and analysing the implications for management. Most published work focuses on fishers’ attitudes towards issues of governance, conservation of biodiversity and the environment, and the impact of MPAs on fishing activity. Despite the recent increase in the literature on the human dimensions of MPAs, the present review reveals that little of this literature originates from empirical studies. Hence, given the forthcoming increase in the implementation of MPAs in the near future, research on fishers’ attitudes towards these management measures is critically needed.

Keywords

Fishers Rapid review Systematic Marine protected areas Attitudes Perceptions Beliefs 
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Notes

Acknowledgments

C. Pita was funded by an FCT grant (Foundation for Science and Technology—Portugal) (contract number SFRH/BD/17783/2004). G. J. Pierce is in receipt of a Marie Curie Excellence grant (MEXC-CT-2006-042337). The funding sources played no part in the design, analysis, interpretation or writing-up of the study or in the decision to publish.

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Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2011

Authors and Affiliations

  • Cristina Pita
    • 1
    • 2
  • Graham J. Pierce
    • 3
    • 4
  • Ioannis Theodossiou
    • 1
  • Karen Macpherson
    • 5
  1. 1.Business School, Department of EconomicsUniversity of AberdeenAberdeenUK
  2. 2.Aberdeen Centre for Environmental Sustainability (ACES), School of Biological SciencesUniversity of AberdeenAberdeenUK
  3. 3.Institute of Biological and Environmental SciencesUniversity of AberdeenAberdeenUK
  4. 4.Instituto Español de OceanografíaCentro Oceanográfico de VigoVigoSpain
  5. 5.NHS Quality Improvement ScotlandGlasgowUK

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