It’s 1999, the 21st century is on the horizon, and California has big plans for marine conservation.
It’s 1999, the 21st century is on the horizon, and California has big plans for marine conservation. New legislation has presented a mandate to establish an ambitious network of marine protected areas (MPAs) unlike anywhere else in the world. The goal is to craft strategic protections to safeguard the state’s marine life for preservation and economic benefits alike.
Now 25 years later, an international team of researchers, led by scientists at UC Santa Barbara, have evaluated the network’s effects across different species and habitats. “What everyone wants to know is do MPAs work?” said Joshua Smith, lead author of a new study on the matter published in Conservation Biology.
The study confirmed many benefits an MPA can confer to sea life, especially those targeted by fisheries. The authors found that older MPAs, and those with a greater diversity of habitats, showed the highest amount of fish biomass, especially in targeted species, like rockfishes. Stronger protections also correlated with more pronounced results. With international targets aiming to protect more of the world’s oceans, the findings can inform approaches to MPA design and networks that span multiple ecosystems.
Read more at: University of California - Santa Barbara
California's network of marine reserves enables conservation and management without closing large areas of the ocean. (Photo Credit: Jennifer Caselle)
