ABSTRACT
NICHOLAS A.J. GRAHAM1,9, TRACY D. AINSWORTH1, ANDREW H. BAIRD1, NATALIE C. BAN1, LINE K. BAY1, JOSHUA E. CINNER1, DEBORA M. DE FREITAS1,2, GUILLERMO DIAZ-PULIDO3,4, MARIA DORNELAS1,5, SIMON R. DUNN3, PEDRO I.J. FIDELMAN1, SYLVAIN FORET1, TATJANA C. GOOD1, JOHNATHAN KOOL1,6, JENNIE MALLELA7, LUCIE PENIN1,8, MORGAN S. PRATCHETT1 & DAVID H. WILLIAMSON1
1ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland 4811, Australia
2Australian National Centre for Ocean Resources and Security, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2500, Australia
3ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies and Global Change Institute, University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Brisbane, Queensland 4072, Australia
4Grifth School of Environment, Nathan Campus, Grifth University, Brisbane, Nathan, Queensland 4111, Australia
5Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies, University of Aveiro, Campus de Santiago 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal
6Australian Institute of Marine Science, PMB 3 Townsville MC, Townsville, Queensland 4810, Australia
7ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies and Research School of Earth Sciences, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia
8Centre de Biologie et Ecologie Tropicale et Méditerranéenne, UMR 5244 CNRS-EPHE-UPVD, Université de Perpignan via Domitia, 66860 Perpignan, France
9Corresponding author. E-mail: nick.graham@jcu.edu.au
Abstract The number of no-take marine protected areas (here referred to as no-take areas, NTAs) on coral reefs has increased considerably in recent decades. Coincident with accelerating degradation of coral reefs, expectations of the bene™ts that NTAs can provide for coastal societies and sustainability of marine ecosystems has grown. These include increasing abundance of reef organisms both inside and outside NTAs, protecting key ecosystem functions, and providing social and economic bene™ts through improved ™sheries and tourism. However, there is a lack of convincing evidence for many of these expectations. This is the ™rst attempt to synthesize all potential costs and bene™ts of coral reef NTAs and critically examine evidence of their impacts on both ecosystems and societies. NTAs with high compliance consistently increase the diversity, density and biomass of exploited reef ™shes and certain groups of motile invertebrates within their boundaries and have bene™ts for reef-associated tourism. Some NTAs provide small increases in the abundance of corals and decreases in macroalgal cover. The effects of NTAs on genetic diversity and connectivity among meta-populations are variable or as yet unquanti™ed. There is limited evidence of NTAs providing social bene™ts through increased ™shery yields and tourism revenue. There are examples of both positive and negative effects on social well-being. Finally, sharks, marine megafauna and microbial communities showed few tangible bene™ts from NTAs. Substantial gaps in the science of
coral reef NTAs remain, especially in their capacity to provide socioeconomic bene™ts. A crucial research priority is understanding how the cumulative effects of climate change will in¬uence the various bene™ts that NTAs provide. To be effective, NTAs must be used in conjunction with a range of other management tools and applied according to local environmental and societal contexts.
