With the creation of large marine spatial closures, such as the system of fisheries related closures and MPAs that have been implemented in the South East, complications to the current established framework for fisheries management and risk assessment are introduced.

Management advice for targeted commercial fish stocks is generally based on the results of quantitative or semi-quantitative stock assessment methods. These assessments usually treat the impacted species as unit entities where the complete stock is vulnerable to the fishery, and this is generally acceptable for most species, as the majority of the stock is available to the fishery. Explicit representation of spatial structure is the exception in most target species stock assessments. For non-target species, assessed within an Ecological Risk Assessment framework, an examination of catches in comparison to life-history characteristics, or the species susceptibility and productivity can also give an indication of likely impact. While the spatial overlap of the stock with the fishery is considered in some ERA methods (eg PSA, SAFE), implications for management are not explicit.

Marine spatial closures complicate assessments by changing the relative abundance within and outside closures. They may also alter the location where sampling occurs. In addition to changes to assessments, a key question is how the rules that determine catch levels, including formal harvest strategies, should be modified to account for closures, taking into consideration the characteristics of the closure, the species’ biology and varying levels of monitoring. This project will consider these impacts for all forms of marine closed areas.