Despite much attention given to documenting spillover from MPAs, relatively few studies have attempted to quantify the extent to which increases in the density and size structure of animals along the borders of MPAs influences fishing behaviour, total landings, and revenue. This recently published paper in Nature reports the result from a study which tested whether an increase in the lobster population inside two newly established MPAs influenced local catch, fishing effort, and catch-per-unit-effort (CPUE) within the sustainable California spiny lobster fishery. They found  greater build-up of lobsters within MPAs relative to unprotected areas, and greater increases in fishing effort and total lobster catch, but not CPUE, in fishing zones containing MPAs versus those without MPAs. The results show that a 35% reduction in fishing area resulting from MPA designation was compensated for by a 225% increase in total catch after 6-years, thus indicating at a local scale that the trade-off of fishing ground for no-fishing zones benefitted the fishery. Click here.