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MPAs can be designated to protect fish and their habitats during sensitive or vulnerable life stages, such as critical spawning or nursery areas. Spawning concentrations of fish are particularly vulnerable to over-harvest and need to be protected from over-fishing and other pressures. As well, an MPA would allow more plentiful and often larger and older fish to produce a greater number of eggs with a better survival rate. Protection of relatively sedentary species, such as scallops or lobsters, has a strong potential to enhance the production of populations outside the refuge area, through the increased export of larval recruits.
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