Marine Science | Solutions for a Healthy Ocean

Marine Reserves

Overview

Marine reserves—protected areas of the sea where extractive activities are prohibited—are a promising, area-based management tool designed to help protect marine ecosystems. Numerous scientific studies have shown that marine reserves result in long-lasting and often rapid increases in the diversity, abundance, and size of fish, invertebrates, and other marine organisms within reserve boundaries. In some cases, marine reserves may also help replenish marine populations outside of their borders. By fully protecting a discrete area, marine reserves can also serve as benchmarks for evaluating the effects of activities outside of the reserve and can help reduce the chance of extinction for plants and animals within their borders.

Consensus Statement

In 2001, a working group at the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS) and other academic scientists developed a Scientific Consensus Statement on Marine Reserves and Marine Protected Areas. COMPASS helped these scientists draft and disseminate the consensus statement, which was written in response to repeated requests by marine resource managers, governmental officials, fishermen, conservation activists, and interested citizens for a succinct, non-technical summary of the current scientific knowledge about marine reserves. All 162 signatories are academic Ph.D. scientists with expertise relevant to reserves.

Consensus Statement

Workshops

COMPASS has convened several workshops to explore and discuss key issues relating to the science and implementation of Marine Reserves. For more information on these meetings, as well as related materials, click on the titles listed below:

Long Beach, CA (June 2004)
Integrating Marine Reserve Science and Fisheries Management

Monterey, CA (Jan 2002)
Marine Reserves Worldwide: Perceptions, Realities & Options

Monterey, CA (Aug 2000)
The Science and Development of Marine Protected Areas and Fully-Protected Marine Reserves along the U.S. West Coast

Further reading on this topic

The following citations are meant to provide a general overview of the main issues surrounding Marine Reserves. For more information, or for more specific questions, please contact Kirsten Grorud-Colvert.

Ecological Applications. 2003. Special Issue, "The Science of Marine Reserves"

Berkeley, SA, MA Hixon, RJ Larson, and MS Love. Aug. 2004. Fisheries Sustainability via Protection of Age Structure and Spatial Distribution of Fish Populations. Fisheries 29:23-32.

Gaylord, B, SD Gaines, SA Siegel, MA Carr. 2005. Marine reserves exploit population structure and life history in potentially increasing fishing yields. Ecological Applications 15: 2180-2191.

Mumby, PJ et al. (13 others). 2006. Fishing, trophic cascades, and the process of grazing on coral reefs. Science 311: 98-101.

Roberts, CM, JP Hawkins, and FR Gell. 2005. The role of marine reserves in achieving sustainable fisheries. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B 360: 123-132.

Other Resources

PISCO's Science of Marine Reserves booklet