A Fish Conservation Assessment
of the Marine Protected Areas in
Puerto Rico
Appeldoorn R. a, Schärer-Umpierre M. b,
Mateos-Molina D. c, d, Bejarano I. a,
Hernández-Delgado E. d, Nemeth M. a,
Valdés-Pizzini M. b, e
a Department
of Marine Sciences, University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez
b Centro Interdisciplinario de Estudios del Litoral, University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez
c Departamento de Ecología e Hidrología, Universidad de Murcia, Espinardo, Spain, and
UBICA s. r. l., Via San Siro 6, 16124 Genova, Italy.
d Center for Applied Tropical Ecology and Conservation, University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras
e Department of Social Sciences, University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez, PR 00681-9266.
Why Should We Care?
Historical Fisheries Catch – Puerto Rico
Marine Protected Areas of Puerto Rico
3 = Seasonal No-take
6 = No-take
19 = Natural Reserve
1 = National Estuarine Research Reserve
N = 29
No-take Areas of Puerto Rico
NEOLI Criteria
N = No-take
E = Enforced
O = Old (> 10 yrs)
L = Large (>100 km2)
I = Isolated (habitat breaks)
• Conservation benefits increase as more criteria are met
• Significant improvements require at least 4 being met
Edgar et al. (2014)
Mona
1513
MPA Area (km2)
350
300
250
200
150
100
50
0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100
Rank Order by % Area
Age of Puerto Rico MPAs
35
Number of MPAs
30
25
Older than
10 years
20
15
10
5
0
1970
1980
1990
2000
Year
2010
2020
Summary statistics for 29 MPAs around
Puerto Rico
Total
Mean
Median
% Area
Area
Area NT
Area NTY
Year
Age
(km2)
(No-take)
(Year Round)
3,654
189
97
126
21
16
1996
18
31
7
4
1998
16
5.18
2.65
La Parguera Natural Reserve
La Parguera
Natural Reserve
Frequency of occurence (%)
La Parguera – Decal Changes in Frequency of Occurrence
100
90
1980-81
80
2001-07
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Parrotfishes
Groupers
Snappers
Triggerfish
Kimmel (1985) and Pittman et al. 2010)
Luis Peña Canal (No-take)
Biomass (g)
20,000
Total Fish Biomass, 5-15 m depth
15,000
No-take
Bleaching
10,000
5,000
0
1995
2000
2005
Year
2010
2015
Mona Island
No-take Zone
Mona Island
Changes in Fish Abundance and Biomass
2005/6
2009/10
Transects
Roving Counts
Abundance
Biomass
Questions?