Article 5
Spatial management of inshore areas: theory and practice
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ABSTRACT. – Coastal uses have deeply evolved these last decades and high anthropogenic pressures on coastal ecosystems have affected the sustainability of these areas with respect to the services and the resources they may provide. Traditional fisheries management has failed to avoid overexploitation of most coastal marine resources. Management measures based on an Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) are thus required. Spatial management covers various ranges of properties that may enhance usual regulatory means. If spatial considerations are explicitly integrated in fisheries management, the latter may contribute to zoning design in order to balance the economic, social and biological values of natural marine resources. While traditional fisheries management approaches protect resource based on population numbers, Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) protect ecosystem in space. Besides their ecological effects on fish assemblages within its boundaries, MPAs can enhance adjacent artisanal fisheries. MPAs can thus ensure the sustainability of fisheries and at the same time maintain non-fisheries benefits of marine ecosystems to society.