Latest Marine Protected Area Stories

Project to Map Genetic Relatedness of Dolphin Populations in the South Pacific WASHINGTON, April 26, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Scott Baker, Ph.D., associate director of the Marine Mammal Institute and professor of Fisheries and Wildlife at Oregon State University, has been awarded a 2011 Pew Fellowship in Marine Conservation. His project will map patterns of isolation and interaction among populations of dolphins in the South Pacific Ocean and identify habitats important to protect...

Scotland's first fully protected marine reserve, and only the second in the UK, is already providing commercial and conservation benefits, according to new research.After only two years in operation, it is already showing positive signs for both fishermen and conservationists, according to a study by the University of York and the Community of Arran Seabed Trust (COAST).The research, published in the journal Marine Biology, shows that commercially valuable scallops and several species of...

Big marine protected areas (MPAs) are cheaper to manage per hectare than small ones, and no-fishing zones are cheaper to manage than multiple-use zones, a new study has found."Management costs are rarely taken into account in MPA design," say Dr Natalie Ban and colleagues, in an article in the latest edition of the journal Conservation Letters. "However it is important to budget for them effectively, so we can be sure the long term goals of the park are achieved."The world has an estimated...

Fish are not as dumb as people sometimes think: marine scientists have found that fish that are regularly hunted with spearguns are much more wary and keep their distance from fishers.In investigating the effects of marine areas closed to fishing by customary laws, an international team of researchers working in the Pacific found that fish exposed to speargun fishing take flight much earlier when a diver approaches compared with those living in protected zones.To assess the effectiveness of...

Researchers at Australia's leading coral reef research centre have developed a way to protect both coral reef fish - and the interests of fishers.In pioneering research carried out in Fiji in collaboration with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), the CoECRS team has reported a new approach that enables communities to balance the need to protect the environment with the need to maintain local food supplies and incomes.Concern over the worldwide decline of coral reefs has prompted many...

A UN study showed that coral reefs would benefit from networks of small no-fishing zones to confront threats such as climate change, rather than single, large protected areas. Peter Sale, a leader of the study at the UN University's Institute for Water, Environment and Health, said: "People have been creating marine protected areas for decades. Most of them are totally ineffective." "You need a network of protected areas that functions well," he told Reuters. "It's important to get away from...

North America's nearly 2,000 marine protected areas represent an unprecedented effort to protect the continent's fragile marine environments and are found throughout the marine ecoregions that encircle our continent.The latest map from the North American Environmental Atlas"”coordinated by the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC)"”for the first time brings together information about all types of marine protected areas in Canada, Mexico and the United States, offering details...

LOS ANGELES, June 8 /PRNewswire/ -- In celebration of World Ocean's Day, Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment today announces the release of Disneynature OCEANS as a Disney Blu-ray Combo Pack (Blu-ray + DVD) and 1-Disc DVD, October 19, 2010 and the extension of the "See OCEANS, Save Oceans" efforts - an initiative developed between Disneynature and The Nature Conservancy to help establish new marine protected areas. (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20100608/LA17278) (Photo:...

Scientific Statement Released for World Oceans DayWASHINGTON, June 8 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- More than 245 marine scientists from 35 countries are calling for the establishment of a worldwide system of very large, highly protected marine reserves as "an essential and long overdue contribution to improving stewardship of the global oceanic environment."While small marine reserves are known to protect some species, large reserves -- comparable to large national parks on land -- are...

A team of Spanish and French researchers has undertaken a pioneer analysis of red coral populations in the oldest Marine Protected Areas (MPA) in the Mediterranean and the impact that fishing activity has had. Results show that MPAs are a guarantee for conserving this species.Mediterranean red coral (Corallium rubrum) has been highly valued for jewelry since ancient times. But intensive fishing, particularly in shallow waters, has transformed populations and hindered the recovery of this...