Integrating Socio-Ecological Criteria to Implement Marine Protected Areas

Identifying unprotected areas of high socio-ecological value is a key step toward improving Marine Protected Area (MPA) networks. Here, we introduce a novel cross-disciplinary approach combining genetic connectivity and artisanal fishers’ perceptions to i) evaluate genetic connectivity in a multi-species context across a network of MPAs, ii) link this connectivity with fishers' perceptions of their fishing areas, and iii) discuss how this integrative approach can support multispecies management within a MPAs nexus. We consider four exploited species (three fishes and one crustacean) and 169 artisanal fishers, sampled and interviewed within and from the surrounding fishing grounds outside eight no-take MPAs. We overlaid the study area with a grid of cells (44 km maximum diameter; hereon nodes), assigned sampled individuals and fisher interviews to nodes, and calculated node-level population genetic connectivity based on bootstrapped individual Euclidean distances and sociological importance of nodes. Our analyses identify four nodes with high ecological value, indicated by their centrality in the population genetic network, and high sociological value based on fishers’ perception. All identified nodes were relevant for at least two species, with all but one containing a MPA. These results suggest that the current MPA network aligns with the ecological and sociological requirements for species preservation and fishers' perception. The network could be improved by integrating the one unprotected node with high socio-ecological value identified through our approach. This illustrates how population genetic approach offers a powerful method to combine the joint analysis of connectivity patterns and stakeholder perceptions to inform management decisions.