Sustainable-use marine protected areas to improve human nutrition

Daniel F. Viana (), David Gill, Alex Zvoleff, Nils C. Krueck, Jessica Zamborain-Mason, Christopher M. Free, Alon Shepon, Dana Grieco, Josef Schmidhuber, Michael B. Mascia and Christopher D. Golden
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Daniel F. Viana: Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
David Gill: Duke University
Alex Zvoleff: Conservation International
Nils C. Krueck: University of Tasmania
Jessica Zamborain-Mason: Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Christopher M. Free: University of California, Santa Barbara
Alon Shepon: Tel Aviv University
Dana Grieco: Duke University
Josef Schmidhuber: Pure Harvest Smart Farms
Michael B. Mascia: Conservation International
Christopher D. Golden: Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

Nature Communications, 2024, vol. 15, issue 1, 1-10

Abstract: Abstract Coral reef fisheries are a vital source of nutrients for thousands of nutritionally vulnerable coastal communities around the world. Marine protected areas are regions of the ocean designed to preserve or rehabilitate marine ecosystems and thereby increase reef fish biomass. Here, we evaluate the potential effects of expanding a subset of marine protected areas that allow some level of fishing within their borders (sustainable-use MPAs) to improve the nutrition of coastal communities. We estimate that, depending on site characteristics, expanding sustainable-use MPAs could increase catch by up to 20%, which could help prevent 0.3-2.85 million cases of inadequate micronutrient intake in coral reef nations. Our study highlights the potential add-on nutritional benefits of expanding sustainable-use MPAs in coral reef regions and pinpoints locations with the greatest potential to reduce inadequate micronutrient intake level. These findings provide critical knowledge given international momentum to cover 30% of the ocean with MPAs by 2030 and eradicate malnutrition in all its forms.

Date: 2024
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-49830-9

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