Latest Marine Protected Area Stories

A reduction of as little as five per cent in fisheries catch could result in as much as 30 per cent of the British Columbia coastal ecosystems being protected from overfishing, according to a new study from the UBC Fisheries Centre.The study, by Natalie Ban and Amanda Vincent of Project Seahorse, proposes modest reductions in areas where fisheries take place, rather than the current system of marine protected areas which only safeguard several commercially significant species, such as...

Governments seeking to stop global warming must give a higher priority to protecting marine ecosystems, scientists said Sunday in Washington. Meeting at the International Marine Conservation Congress, the scientists stressed that because the oceans act as a vital carbon sink absorbing much of the ever-increasing supply of carbon emissions, maintaining their health is a prerequisite for battling climate change, the International Union for Conservation of Nature, a Swiss environmental group,...

Sites in Hawaii, Fiji and the Philippines show that protecting vulnerable parts of the ocean pays off for business and the environment, marine experts said. Protected sites ultimately provide higher and more sustained income through tourism and controlled fishing than continued exploitation, experts from the International Union for the Conservation of Nature said. Along the western coast of Hawaii, marine sites were placed under protection in 1999 after years of over-harvesting of fish...

Residents voice support for compromise proposal SACRAMENTO, Calif., May 14 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today in Sacramento, the Fish and Game Commission is holding a public comment hearing on plans for a network of underwater parks, or marine protected areas (MPAs), along California's north central coast (between Half Moon Bay and Point Arena). After today's meeting, the Fish and Game Commission is expected to make a final decision on the north central coast MPA network at an adoption...

Climate change, fishing and commercial shipping top the list of threats to the ocean off the West Coast of the United States."Every single spot of the ocean along the West Coast," said Ben Halpern, a marine ecologist at the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS) at the University of California at Santa Barbara, "is affected by 10 to 15 different human activities annually."In a two-year study to document the way humans are affecting the oceans in this...

There is a swirling fight to save the Indonesian island of Nusa Lembongan because of its valuable wildlife resources.It appears to be the edge of a great wilderness, but according to scientists, this small and scrubby island off Bali is one corner of a huge marine ecosystem described as the most diverse on earth. The area known as the Coral Triangle is a key environmental battleground for a planet grappling with climate change.The triangle stretches across six nations between the Indian...

Move comes as California's ocean faces multiple threats SACRAMENTO, Calif., April 27 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The California Democratic Party's Environmental Caucus unanimously passed a resolution to support the state's landmark ocean conservation law, the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) at the Party's convention in Sacramento last weekend. "The MLPA gives the public unprecedented access to protecting our ocean for future generations," said Warner Chabot, CEO of California League of...

The world's first conference on marine protected areas for marine mammals MAUI, Hawaii, March 27 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The conservation of the world's most iconic ocean species, whales and dolphins, is to take a step forward next week with the launch of the first conference on protected areas for marine mammals. Over 150 marine experts from 30 countries around the world will gather in Maui, Hawaii, on Monday 30th March to build plans for networks of protected areas, which will...

Children of baby boomers aren't the only ones who have taken to setting up home far from where their parents live. A new study published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences documents how larval dispersal connects marine fish populations in a network of marine protected areas "“ information that is critical for fisheries managers."What this study does for the first time is to demonstrate that a percentage of larvae spawned on one marine reserve actually make it...

Promotes Holiday Gift Giving that Supports Ocean Awareness and Conservation SILVER SPRING, Md., Dec. 3 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The National Marine Sanctuary Foundation (NMSF) is offering a unique eco-friendly gift giving opportunity in partnership with OceansForMe.com, the world's first and only ocean registry that allows users to actually purchase their own virtual ocean parcel, identifiable by GPS coordinates, and explore the ocean on an interactive map. For every parcel registered...