Evaluation of rockfish conservation area networks in the United States and Canada relative to the dispersal distance for black rockfish (Sebastes melanops)

REEF data were used to validate population estimates of Black Rockfish throughout western Canada, Washington State, and Oregon. These results were then used to evaluate the efficacy of marine reserve networks in these areas. The authors of the study estimated the scale of dispersal from genetic data in the black rockfish, and compared this estimate with the distance between Rockfish Conservation Areas that aim to protect this species (essentially evaluating whether the reserves are "connected" enough). Their findings showed that within each country, the distance between conservation areas was generally well connected. The distance between the networks in the two countries, however, was greater than the average dispersal per rockfish generation.