Drifting fish aggregating devices, or dFADs, are widely used by tuna fleets to gather and catch fish, but they can drift into marine protected areas without vessels crossing the boundary.A new Science Advances study found that dFADs have likely interacted with 53% of the global MPA network by area and stranded in 174 protected areas, including sites that harbor at least 490 at-risk species.The problem exposes a weakness in ocean protection: MPAs can regulate fishing boats inside their boundaries, but they are less equipped to manage mobile industrial gear that crosses those boundaries, sinks, breaks apart, or washes ashore.The costs often fall on MPA managers, island communities, and conservation groups, making dFADs a test of whether fishing governance can assign responsibility before protected areas become cleanup sites for other people’s gear.
For a marine protected area, a line on the map is supposed to carry legal weight. It tells fishing vessels where they may not go. It tells managers where their authority begins. It tells governments what they have promised to protect.
In the open ocean, that line can be hard to defend. Fish move through it. Currents cross it. Plastic and lost gear drift into it. A reserve may be closed to fishing vessels and still receive the debris of industrial fishing.
