Economic valuation of the snapper recruitment effect from a well-established temperate no-take marine reserve on adjacent fisheries

The global exhaustion of marine fishery resources has triggered worldwide demands for sustainable utilization of marine resources and Ecosystem-Based Management (EBM). Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are a long-term spatial management strategy in the EBM toolbox. MPAs demonstrate ecological and economic benefits. While MPAs’ ecological benefits are well researched, there are only a few studies that estimate the economic benefits of MPAs to the adjacent fisheries. Currently, methodologies for measuring the economic benefits flowing from MPAs are underdeveloped. Our research builds on a recent assessment of the economic contribution of a small, temperate, no-take marine reserve in New Zealand to rejuvenating depleted snapper (Sparidae: Chrysophrys auratus) stocks. Empirical evidence shows that 10.6% of newly settled juvenile snappers sampled up to 55 km outside of the MPA were the offspring of adult snappers from the MPA. This suggests a significant boost to the commercial fishery of $NZ 1.49 million catch landing value per annum and $NZ 3.21 million added from recreational fishing activity associated spending per annum. These values all come from the recruitment effects associated with one species, from only 0.08% of the marine space in the Hauraki Gulf, New Zealand. The economic valuation of this marine reserve’s snapper recruitment effect demonstrated $NZ 9.64 million in total spending accruing to recreational fishing per annum and $NZ 4.89 million in total output to commercial fisheries annually. This study is the first estimation of the economic valuation of the recruitment effects from a well-established temperate no-take MPA. It represents an important step forward for quantifying the economic benefits of marine reserves and how marine reserves could have positive influence on EBM and marine sustainability.