What's the damage? Assessing the costs of spatial closures to protect corals and sponges from bottom trawling

Spatial closures are a widely used management tool for protecting corals and sponges from potential damage by bottom trawling. However, closures can be challenging to design and implement because they may reduce fishing opportunities and landings. To help address this challenge, I assess the costs of spatial closures that protect coral and sponge habitat predicted by species distribution models within Hecate Strait, British Columbia, Canada. Closures are selected using Marxan spatial optimization to target the most suitable coral and sponge habitat for protection, while minimizing losses in bottom trawl landings value, which is estimated using spatially explicit catch records from at-sea observer data. Results suggest negligible losses in landings for 0 to 70% protection of predicted coral and sponge habitat, revealing potential win-win options for spatial closures within Hecate Strait, BC, that protect the majority of predicted coral and sponge habitat while maintaining fisheries value.