Science Advisory Report  2015/026

A Set of Simulation Modelling Tools to Evaluate Alternative Commercial No-Take Reserve Network Designs for Shallow-Water Benthic Invertebrates in British Columbia

Summary

• Fisheries Management (FM) Branch requested the development of a tool to inform the design of a network of commercial fishery reserves for sedentary benthic invertebrates that would be applicable to a broad range of sedentary benthic invertebrate species, able to account for multiple sources of uncertainty and flexible enough to evaluate the ability of alternative reserve designs to meet multiple fisheries management and conservation objectives.
• A habitat-based, spatially-explicit, metapopulation-dynamics simulation modelling framework coupled with sensitivity analyses was completed. The core component of the simulation modelling framework couples models of habitat suitability, dispersal, metapopulation dynamics and fishing. Methods were described to:
1. develop the simulation modelling framework;
2. produce spatial data layers;
3. estimate input parameters; and
4. carry out and interpret a global sensitivity analysis.
• The simulation modelling framework was applied as a proof of concept to a baseline model developed for the California Sea Cucumber (Parastichopus californicus) in Pacific Fishery Management Area 12 to illustrate how the set of tools could be used together to: predict the distribution of suitable habitat; project population trends over time; carry out a global sensitivity analysis to quantify the relative influence of model parameters and identify research priorities; and evaluate alternative reserve network configurations.
• The next stage of running the simulation tool fully, using a specified location and species, and having the results reviewed by CSAS, was recommended.
• The use of the term “Commercial No-Take Reserve” (CNTR) within this document refers to areas where commercial fishing of a particular species is not permitted.

This Science Advisory Report is from the October 23 and 24, 2013 meeting on A Simulation Modelling Tool to Evaluate Alternative Fishery Closure Network Designs for Shallow-water Benthic Invertebrates in British Columbia. Additional publications from this meeting will be posted on the Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) Science Advisory Schedule as they become available.

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