Using Optimization to Design a Marine Protected Area for a Pelagic Species

Abstract

Marine protected area (MPAs) are areas of the ocean within which fishing is banned or restricted to certain species or mode of catch (gear use). MPAs have almost always been sited within coastal areas and within the jurisdiction of a single nation. This paper explores their use for a pelagic (open-ocean) species, tuna, that migrates across many nations' Exclusive Economic Zones in the Pacific Ocean. With potential catch estimated on the basis of historical catch data for each 1° x 1° latitude-longitude cell, a set of 1431- variable, 0/1 optimization models—from single-objective LPs, and multiobjective models using both generating techniques (weighted and constraint methods) and goal programming—is presented that shows how the areal extent and spatial configuration of such MPAs varies as different concerns are considered. The concerns addressed are conservation/protection of fish stocks, access to fishing grounds, equity across nations, uncertainty, and spatial contiguity or fragmentation of the MPAs.