Posted by Dr. Bill on March 07, 2003 at 20:14:22:
In Reply to: CA Marine reserves. Think on this one. posted by seahunt on December 05, 2002 at 11:40:04:
You refer to the "overabundance" of invertebrates in areas which are designated as marine reserves. On what basis do you make that judgment?
I've been diving southern California waters for 35 years and have definitely noticed declines in invertebrate species in many, if not most, dive sites. That perspective only goes back to the late 1960's.
Consider the stories of the tremendous abundance of fish stocks in the late 1800's when regional recreational and commercial fisheries began in earnest. What were the invertebrate stocks like back then? Probably substantially more than any of us imagine.
When making judgments about the abundance of marine life in a given area, we really need to have a much longer term "database" from which to make those measurements. Unfortunately none of us were SCUBA diving Catalina in the mid 1800's... were we?
Best fishes.
Dr. Bill