Understanding patterns of larval dispersal is key in determining whether no-take marine reserves are self-sustaining, what will be protected inside reserves and where the benefits of reserves will be observed. However, explicitly incorporating dispersal data into designing reserves for fisheries and conservation is still uncommon in many places around the world. We followed a multidisciplinary approach that merged detailed descriptions of fishing zones and spawning time at 17 sites distributed in the Midriff Island region of the Gulf of California (GC) with a biophysical oceanographic model that simulated larval transport at Pelagic Larval Duration (PLD) 14, 21 and 28 days for the most common and targeted predatory reef fish (leopard grouper
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Adrian Munguia-Vega is an employee of Comunidad y Biodiversidad A.C.
The following information was supplied relating to ethical approvals (i.e., approving body and any reference numbers):
We obtained approval of our sampling protocol by the University of California Santa Cruz IACUC protocol Berng1101
The following information was supplied relating to ethical approvals (i.e., approving body and any reference numbers):
Scientific collection permits were acquired from SAGARPA (No. DGOPA.09151.260809.2885 and DAPA/2/020511/01197)
The following grant information was disclosed by the authors:
The David and Lucile Packard Foundation (grant award #2008- 32210, #2013-39400)
University of California Office of the President (UC-HBCU Initiative grant)
Marine Conservation Institute (Mia J. Tegner memorial research grant)
Ecology Project International
CenTread
Dr. Earl H. Myers and Ethel M. Myers Oceanographic and Marine Biology Trust
FCT (SFRH/BPD/26901/2006)
Friends of Long Marine Lab
Pew Fellowship Program on Marine Conservation
Walton Family Foundation
The following information was supplied regarding the deposition of DNA sequences:
Genbank Accesion numbers have been recently requested and will be provided prior to publication