Marine Reserves

Abstract

Marine wildlife is under threat from many human activities, especially overfishing. Conservation measures, together with sustainable and equitable management, are now urgently needed to help restore and protect ocean biodiversity. Marine reserves are increasingly being proposed by scientists and policy-makers as a tool for the conservation and management of the oceans. Fully protected marine reserves protect entire areas from harmful human activities and, in so doing, protect the full variety of species and their habitats within ecosystems, a prerequisite for conserving biodiversity. Marine reserves can therefore be seen as national parks of the sea.

Marine reserves have been shown to have many benefits. They result in long-lasting and often rapid increases in the abundance, diversity and productivity of marine organisms. They can also benefit fisheries adjacent to reserves as a result of the spill-over of fish across the reserve boundaries and spill-over of larvae or eggs. Marine reserves also provide areas for research and discovery and well managed, non-destructive tourist activities such as scuba diving and snorkeling. Although marine reserves cannot directly deal with the impacts of transboundary pollution or climate change, their ecosystems become more resilient than those of exploited areas and this could help to mitigate some of the negative consequences.

Some marine reserves have been created recently but the speed at which new areas are being designated and protected is presently too slow. Only about 0.1% of the oceans are covered by fully protected marine reserves. Greenpeace is calling for 40% of the oceans to receive such protection. Greenpeace proposes establishing a representative network of marine reserves comprising large-scale reserves on the high seas and a mosaic of smaller marine reserves within the coastal zone.