"No-take zones aid sustainability" (ENN, June 1, 1999)

"Marine "no-take" reserves have attracted worldwide attention as potentially useful tools for managers to sustain fisheries and the health of coastal areas, but how do they affect net fish catch?

Researchers from the University of California at Davis say "no-take zones" in coastal waters can reduce the effects of fishing, better preserving biodiversity in the world's oceans, and yet actually yield the same industry harvest as current fishing-control methods."

(from "Fishermen Take the Forum" in the 29 Mar-5 Apr 2001 issue of the Santa Barbara Independent)

"An international team of 165 scientists released a study of marine reserves in February, funded by UCSB's National Science Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS), analyzing 80-plus studies of the reserves that are aready in existence worldwide. "There are virtually no exceptions to the fact that all ("No Take" zones) have the exact same result: Where the average abundance goes up, the average size goes up, and the numbers of species goes up." said Dr. Steven Gaines, Director of UCSB's Marine Science Institute and an NCEAS scientist. The study also found that in the long term, fishermen would be benefited from the spillover of species into unprotected areas.

ACTION ALERT (August/September 2006):

Channel Islands Marine Reserves Update -- Ocean Wilderness Protection is at Hand

In 2003, local ocean lovers and conservation activists successfully campaigned to establish what was then the largest system of marine reserves in the United States.  It's still the only scientifically constituted reserve network in the country, but the new Hawai'i marine reserve is larger.  This success was outstanding, but only one-half of the full plan was enacted because only the nearshore state waters area was considered.  The federal waters -- further offshore and significantly larger -- are controlled by the National Marine Sanctuary, and protected areas for these waters are now the subject of a decision this fall.  To include these deeper, offshore areas in marine protected areas will require one more push from the dedicated activists who made the first phase of this plan happen.  Important public meetings are set for Ventura on September 26 and Santa Barbara on September 28. 
 
Ocean waters are a spectacular underwater wilderness, home to more animal and plant life than all terrestrial ecosystems combined.  Yet, incredibly, only a very small fraction of our oceans are protected.  About 5% of the US land mass in contained within designated wilderness, national park and other protected status.  In the ocean, it's less than 1 percent -- and that 1 percent protection has come only recently. 
 
We know that in marine reserves  -- where removing or harming living things is forbidden -- mother nature's vast productivity explodes in the absence of fishing.  Released from the pressure of heavy, industrial fishing, ocean life becomes much more abundant, more diverse and much larger.  Larger fish and other critters produce vastly more offspring, making the entire food web richer, more stable and resilient, and able to sustain healthier populations of marine mammals, seabirds and large predators.  It's very basic ecology, but setting aside ocean areas in protection is an absolutely revolutionary idea among those who control ocean use and conservation.  This revolution is happening right now, and our Channel Islands are in the forefront. 
 
Outside a few small areas like the inshore areas of the Channel Islands, the ocean is managed with one thing in mind -- how to maximize what we take out of the ocean.  The process is very much like National Forests which are managed for optimum timber harvest.  Yosemite used to be like this, and the majority of our Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary is like this.  After a set of protected areas were established in the nearshore (state controlled) waters, the old-school fishery managers woke up and have been fighting the Sanctuary's plans for reserves that included nearshore and offshore areas.  They nearly defeated this proposal, arguing that fishing quotas and seasons could sustain the Islands' ecosystem.  But, finally, the Sanctuary succeeded in getting the federal government to allow them to proceed, and to ask the local public to weigh in.  What we have now is a chance to complete the marine reserve plan for the entire Sanctuary. 
 
Extending the existing set of marine reserves to the 6 mile limit of the Sanctuary is crucial, and we have a good chance of succeeding in this if the Sanctuary and its leaders hear our message loudly.  The deeper regions of our Sanctuary host the colder, wilder areas where inshore fish retreat and breed.  They host deep pinnacles and reefs that supply the surface with the nutrients and oxygen that create the biological engine of the ocean.  Based on this process, the largest animal to inhabit the earth -- the great blue whale -- is nourished by millions of tons of one of the smaller animals in our ocean -- krill.  The offshore areas under consideration for new marine reserves are a true, wild oceanscape, on par with our National Parks for those willing to  recognize the interconnections between the wildlife that fascinate us briefly at the surface before they return to their realm beneath. 

Please lend a hand and voice to help protect this spectacular but imperiled underwater world. 

The loggers and ranchers did not volunteer to have Yosemite or Yellowstone protected -- it was achieved fairly but firmly by those with the vision and concern for wildlife.  The Sanctuary will hold two hearings to see if their protected areas are desired by the public.  The support for marine reserves will be a major factor in whether the reserves are enacted -- and the strongest form of support is to attend one of these meetings and say a few words about your feelings about the ocean.  Here are the details for the hearings -- hope to see you there.
 
Ventura:  September 26, 6:15 PM.  Sheraton Four Points Hotel.  Down near Ventura Harbor on Schooner Way
Santa Barbara:  September 28, 6:15 PM.  Earl Warren Showgrounds, Warren Hall.   
 
You may also want to put some support in writing -- this helps also! 

Take a look at the information www.http://www.cinms.nos.noaa.gov  and mail/email/fax comments to: 113 Harbor Way, Suite 150, Santa Barbara, Calif. 93109, by email at cinmsreserves.deis@noaa.gov, or by fax at (805) 568-1582.

Some Suggested Comments:
1) support the scientific consensus recommending networks of fully-protected (no-take) marine reserves to support biodiversity and special habitats in the sanctuary
2) support no-take marine reserves to protect our local economy and maritime community;
3) support the establishment of no-take marine reserves because it supports the priority goal of the National Marine Sanctuary Act (to protect marine life), and the state's Marine Life Protection Act.
4) support biodiversity protection because it is the ethically right thing to do.

"spillover effect":

"Leeworthy told the citizens group that off the Florida Keys, lobster fishermen did not go out of business in 1997 when a nine-square-mile ecological reserve was established to protect the coral reefs. On the contrary, he said, the lobstermen's net income has increased every year, despite two hurricanes in the area. The fishermen also were aided by a state-mandated reduction in lobster traps, Leeworthy said." (Bob Leeworthy is an economist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) (from 3/22/01, Santa Barbara Newspress)

"First-Year Results Show Sanctuary No-Take Zones Beginning to Change Fish and Lobster Populations"

March 4, 1999

[please click here, or on image below for link]

From the U.S. Department of Commerce National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Ocean Service Marine Sanctuaries Division Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary