Reserve design There’s a lot of crap out there We are in a position to inform how to do this intelligently

Marine reserve design Many reserve design planning processes are on-going May be multiple objectives Where should reserves go?

Some approaches people use The “Marxan” approach –Layer maps, score things, define “targets”, and select parcels –Ignores spatial connections which is the whole reason reserves can increase profits The “Collaborative” approach –Policy guy draws lines –Fishermen draw lines –Come to some agreement

An alternative Suppose fishery is restricted access, but no other regulations. –Wants to know how to spatially manage their resource –How much harvest should obtain in each area? Should they ever implement reserves? Where? For how long? What to do outside reserves? None of these questions have been answered in the literature As fisheries move towards private access (zoning, dedicated access, property rights…) this will be THE critical question

Our F3 paper The paper I keep presenting at these meetings solves this problem, but only theoretically. –Some characteristics of solution are easy to interpret. Others are very difficult. How would this work in practice?

How to design optimal reserves in practice? The “solution” (i.e. optimal spatial management, including reserve placement) depends on: 1.Patch-level biological characteristics (productivity, survival of larvae, survival of adults…) 2.Patch-level economic characteristics (harvest costs, distance to port) 3.Connectivity between patches (dispersal kernel)

A paper idea 1.Flesh out the interdependencies among these characteristics 2.Assemble the appropriate data layers for a real (sort of) system 3.Actually determine how harvest should be distributed across space (including reserves) 4.Show how that solution is far superior than a standard solution that lets fishermen decide where to go

A Channel Islands Example? 1.Defining “patches” (on the order of 100 or 1000 or so would be fine) 2.Patch connectivity between patches (“Flow”) 3.Biological layers for each patch (“Fish”) 4.Economic layers for each patch (“Fishing”) The result would be an optimal spatial management plan to maximize profits

Who’s in?