Torre Guaceto Marine Reserve is located in southeastern Italy in the Adriatic Sea. The reserve was established in 1992, but effective enforcement began a few years later. Within a decade, the reserve had 2 times as many sea bream, an important commercial fish, as a comparable area outside the reserve.

 

In 2004, scientists found evidence that fishes from the marine reserve were spilling over into fished waters nearby. Eight commercially important fishes were most abundant in the middle of the reserve (green bars, graph below). These fishes declined near the reserve's boundary along a fished marine protected area (MPA, yellow bars), and they declined farther outside the protected areas in fully fished areas (blue bars). This gradient in abundance suggests that adult fishes produced in the reserve moved into unprotected areas, where fishermen could catch them.

 

Surrounding Torre Guaceto Marine Reserve, fishermen have used low-impact techniques in a fished MPA since 2004. Working with scientists, they selected fishing gear that minimizes harm to the underwater habitats, and they agreed to fish only once a week. Since 2004, the commercial catch per unit effort from this area was 4 times higher than in fully fished areas. This is likely a result of both the spillover from the borders of the marine reserve (indicated in the graph below) and the low-impact fishing methods. Because the fishermen have seen benefits for their fishery, many of them now support both the marine reserve and the fished MPA.