Conservation benefits of temperate marine protected areas: variation among fish species.

Marine protected areas, and other fishery management systems that impart partial or total protection from fishing, are increasingly advocated as an essential management tool to ensure the sustainable use of marine resources. Beneficial effects for fish species are well documented for tropical and reef systems, but the effects of marine protected areas remain largely untested in temperate waters. We compared trends in sport-fishing catches of nine fish species in an area influenced by a large (500-km2) towed-fishing-gear restriction zone and in adjacent areas under conventional fishery management controls.