Abstract

Ten years after establishment of marine protected areas (MPAs) in the Florida Keys we sampled a commercial fisherman’s catch from traps close to and at a distance from the MPAs to determine if spillover occurs. During the latter part of the 2006 lobster fishing season and the beginning of the 2007 fishing season we recorded lobster size and catch rates from 1341 sampled traps; 325 traps within 0.25 nm an MPA and 1016 traps were farther than 0.25 nm from an MPA. An ANOVA of lobster size indicated no significant interaction effects between season and distance from an MPA as well as a non-significant season effect. We did find that the size of lobsters differed significantly relative to their distance from an MPA with lobsters close to an MPA being larger. Catch rates, in number of lobsters per day of soak time, did not exhibit a significant interaction or distance effect but did exhibit a significant season effect with catch rates being greater at the beginning of the season. It appears spillover effects are easier to detect with lobster size than with catch rates and spillover effects become more evident as the fishing season progresses.

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