0000000000012250

AUTHOR

Valentina Cappanera

Social equity and marine protected areas: Perceptions of small-scale fishermen in the Mediterranean Sea

Abstract Global conservation policy requires the scaling up of effectively and equitably managed networks of marine protected areas (MPAs). While progress has been made on spatial coverage, the fundamental aspects of effectiveness and equity are falling short. Past research has focused on management effectiveness in MPAs, but less attention has been given to social equity though it is an ethical imperative and instrumental to conservation. This study assessed the perceptions of SSF regarding recognitional, procedural and distributional dimensions of social equity using quantitative surveys in 11 MPAs across 6 countries on the Mediterranean Sea. To do so, we developed individual indicators f…

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Reply to LoganDodge: 'stable isotopes challenge the perception of ocean sunfish Mola mola as obligate jellyfish predators'.

Syvaranta et al. (2012) recently provided stable-isotope data from eight small-bodied ocean sunfish Mola mola (L. 1758) captured from the Italian fishing port of Camogli on the Ligurian coast. Representative data were also given for members of pelagic and neritic–coastal food webs. The level of 13C and 15N enrichment shown by M. mola relative to their putative obligate diet of gelatinous zooplankton (gelata) (based on the locally dominant Pelagia noctiluca and literature data) was used to question their obligate consumption of such prey. Furthermore, the M. mola were isotopically more similar to neritic rather than pelagic fishes captured locally, prompting the suggestion that juvenile M. m…

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Stable isotopes challenge the perception of ocean sunfish Mola mola as obligate jellyfish predators

Evidence is provided from stable isotope analysis that aggregations of small ocean sunfish Mola mola (total length <1 m) feed broadly within coastal food webs and their classification as obligate predators of gelatinous zooplankton requires revision.

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