| Fisheries and other human activities pose a global threat to the marine environment. Marine protected areas (MPAs) are an emerging tool to cope with such threats. In the Dutch Wadden Sea, large MPAs (covering 31% of all intertidal flats) have been created to protect shellfish-eating birds and allow recovery of important habitats. Even though shellfish fishing is prohibited in these areas, populations of shellfish-eating birds in the Wadden Sea have declined sharply. The role of shellfish fisheries in these declines is hotly debated, therefore, we investigated the effectiveness of MPAs for protecting oystercatcher (Haematopus ostralegus) populations. Shellfish stocks (cockles, Cerastoderma edule) were substantially higher in the MPAs, but surprisingly this... |
