Posted by Frank on December 04, 2001 at 16:26:02:
In Reply to: Is there presently a problem with an MPA expanding... posted by njdiver on December 04, 2001 at 15:16:13:
From the article in Science:
"Some sport and commercial fishing groups have challenged the California effort and asked the Bush Administration to reconsider a major reserve in the Hawaiian Islands. ... In August, the American Sportfishing Association and other groups also convinced Senators John Breaux (D-La) and Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Tx) to introduce the Freedom to Fish Act (S. 1314), which would require government planners to make reserves as small as possible. 'Blanket closures and no-fishing zones should not be the first solution, but rather the last,' says an ASfA statement."
Most people buy the idea of some protected areas to support fish populations, but the controversial question is how much to set aside. I have friends on both sides of this issue, and I don't know of any answers backed up by hard data. The research article in Science doesn't offer any data to identify an optimal amount of set-aside for marine protected areas, although it implies that more is better.