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Lookup NU author(s): Dr Fabrice StephensonORCiD
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
© 2026 The Author(s). Ecosphere published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of The Ecological Society of America. The establishment of marine protected areas (MPAs) to achieve healthy and resilient ecosystems is a proven conservation strategy to generate a wide range of ecological and socioeconomic benefits. However, the planning and design of MPAs must be well thought out to avoid unintended management consequences. Among the things that practitioners should consider is the potential for fishing effort displaced from MPAs to exacerbate fishing impacts outside of MPAs. Commercial fisheries are generally well studied when analyzing and predicting fishing displacement, but recreational fisheries often receive less attention. In this study, we analyze the spatial relationship between recreational fishing effort (estimates of recreational fishing vessel density) and the predicted habitat suitability of the main target fish species for recreational fishers in the Hauraki Gulf in northern New Zealand. A spatial prioritization software, Zonation, was used to identify areas likely to receive fishing effort displacement due to the establishment of 14 new MPAs that exclude all recreational fishing and almost all commercial fishing. A “displaced effort index” is provided for each protected area, as well as for the entire area of study, to help identify broad areas that are likely to absorb displaced recreational fishing effort. The index can help inform effectiveness of MPAs and identify areas that should be the focus of assessments of localized depletion of fisheries resources due to displaced effort. While the analysis described here is based in the Hauraki Gulf, the methodology can be adapted to different areas and other fisheries.
Author(s): Tablada J, Bennion M, Geange SW, Duffy CA, Stephenson F, Hartill BW, Hiddink JG
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Ecosphere
Year: 2026
Volume: 17
Issue: 7
Online publication date: 13/07/2026
Acceptance date: 24/04/2026
Date deposited: 20/07/2026
ISSN (print): 2150-8925
ISSN (electronic): 2150-8925
Publisher: John Wiley and Sons Inc.
URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.70713
DOI: 10.1002/ecs2.70713
Data Access Statement: Data and code (Tablada, 2026) are available from Dryad: https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.qfttdz0xb.
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