CONSERVATION: Mark over at Blogfish has a post about the success of the Tortugas reserve off Florida. I know the idea of MPAs is a real hot-button issue, particularly with anglers in California. I tried to take a balanced look in an article I wrote three years ago. I wish it had an online link, but it doesn't. Here are a few points from it...
--Biologists I spoke with said that sanctuaries benefit anglers in surrounding areas via spillover and "seeding effect," meaning that bigger fish will eventually move out of the sanctuaries due to food competition, and that protected females will produce more eggs, some of which will naturally drift away from the preserve. But evidence from the Mosquito Lagoon sanctuary suggests that more fish move in than move out.
--No-take zones actually make up less than one percent of protected waters in the country at this point. Some scientists advocate closing off 25-30 percent of marine habitat, but the more practical-minded ones I spoke with said that's just a pipe dream. So there's a lot of panic about the issue that's unfounded. (Recreational advocates have championed the Freedom to Fish Act to curb MPAs. So there is a contingency working to ensure that the "25-30 percent closure" advocates don't get their wish.)
--Anglers in California DID get screwed with the Channel Islands Sanctuary, because their voice seemed to be blatantly ignored in the process.
--Strong fish management practices WITHOUT no-take zones successfully rehabilitated striped bass and redfish stocks. But studies of no-take zones around the world (as with the Tortugas study linked above) DO show that MPAs have a solid success rate in increasing biomass, density, and invidual size of species within three years of implementation.
Here's my conclusion from the article, which I still believe makes sense. "It's not fair or practical to exclude anglers from large expanses of public water. But science shows that no-take zones do have a valid role in fish conservation. So why not set up a network of small reserves, giving [recreational] fishermen access to some of the best spots while implementing strict management practices? This way everyone gets what they say they want: more fish."