Table 1. Average direction of association for the six abundant and commonly-caught fish species (see methods) since the commencement of the zoning plan and potential explanatory variables in six offshore sanctuary zones in the Bateman Marine Park.

	Brush Island	Murramarang	Tollgate Islands	Burrewarra	Broulee Island	Mullimburra	r	P
Direction of association since the establishment of the zoning plan
Average Pearson’s r for fish response variables	−0.07	−0.46	0.64	0.06	−0.19	−0.20
Potential explanatory variables
Enforcement actions	8	7	104	11	8	26	0.91	<0.01
Sanctuary zone area (ha)	1709	2449	3291	312	172	4542	0.12	0.82
Terminates at 3 nm boundary	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes
Directly Linked to estuarine sanctuary zones	No	No	No	No	No	Yes
Buffered by Habitat Protection Zone	No	No	Yes	Part	No	Yes
Adjacent to mainland National Park/Nature reserve	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes