Five years without fishing around Lundy Island off the coast of Devon have brought a significant revival in sea life, scientists report.
by Richard Black
Five years without fishing around Lundy Island off the coast of Devon have brought a significant revival in sea life, scientists report.
Lobsters are seven times more abundant within the protected zone than outside.
The eastern coast of Lundy is the UK's only "no-take" zone, where fishing is completely prohibited.
Conservation groups say UK seas need more of them, but the government's recent Marine Bill promises much vaguer "marine conservation zones".
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It is not clear what levels of protection these areas would have.
The Lundy zone was set up five years ago by Natural England and the Devon Sea Fisheries Committee, which administers fishing along the county's coasts, in partnership with local fishermen.
Natural England scientists believe the zone should help Devon's lobster-potters by providing a refuge where young lobsters can grow to maturity, then migrate into areas where commercial fishing is permitted.
On the up
"The main result we have seen is an increase in the number of large lobsters in the no-take zone compared to areas where fishing is on-going," said Miles Hoskin, the marine biologist engaged by Natural England to lead the research.
Recent surveys have found that lobsters above the minimum landing size are between six and seven times as abundant within the zone as outside.
"In recent years we've also found an increase in the number of small lobsters within the zone and adjacent to the zone," Dr Hoskin told BBC News.
"In the next year or two they're all going to be lobsters that fishermen can catch."
The team surveys five sites - one in the no-take zone, two commercially fished sites around Lundy, and two comparison sites further afield, one on the north coast of Devon and one in South Wales.
Surveying consists of laying and then retrieving strings of commercial lobster pots, and counting and sexing the animals inside.
The approximate doubling in numbers of young lobsters has not been seen at the two distant sites, suggesting that it is a consequence of the no-take zone.
Scientists are now putting tags on the lobsters they catch. Fishermen are being encouraged to report catches of tagged animals, in order to show how far they are migrating out of the no-take zones.
Article continues at BBC News.
