94% of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) allow fishing
Mark Costello and Bill Ballantine report in Trends in Ecology and Evolution, September 2015: Conservation needs places where nature is left wild; but, only a quarter of coastal countries have no-take Marine Reserves.
Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) have been used to indicate conservation progress, but we found that 94% allow fishing and thus cannot protect all aspects of biodiversitybiodiversity Biological diversity in an environment as indicated by numbers of different species of plants and animals..
Biodiversity conservation should focus on Marine Reserves, not MPAs.
Highlights
- Conservation of biodiversity in a natural condition requires no fishing.
- 94% of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) allow fishing.
- Most MPAs are about fishery management, not conservation.
- Less than 1% of the ocean is in Marine Reserves (no-take MPAs).
- Less than 25% of coastal countries have Marine Reserves.
- Conservation of biodiversity should concentrate on Marine Reserves, not MPAs.
Source: CMS Newsletter and Trends in Ecology and Evolution, September 2015. For further details, see www.cell.com/trends/ecology-evolution/abstract/S0169-5347%2815%2900163-9
