Long-term decrease in sex-specific natural mortality of European lobster within a marine protected area

Marine protected areas (MPAs) and marine reserves hold promise as tools for nature conservation and fisheries management, but data on long-term demographic effects are still sparse. Here, we use a unique capture-mark-recapture data set from Kavra, an MPA on the west coast of Sweden where fishing for European lobster Homarus gammarus has been banned since 1989, to directly quantify annual survival probabilities in the absence of harvest mortality. The non-migratory behaviour of this species allowed multiple recaptures and releases of a large num- ber of individuals within the MPA. We found strong evidence for a long-term decrease in sex - specific natural mortality throughout the study perio…