“Particularly Sensitive Sea Areas”: Using a Comprehensive Planning Tool to Protect Habitats from Shipping

MPA Perspective: Ways to Ensure Marine Reserves Get a Fair Test

By Brock Bernstein, National Fisheries Conservation Center

I know a fisherman who doesn't think marine reserves are needed.  He's skeptical of their ability to improve fishery yields and says he just wishes they'd go away.  In spite of that, he's willing to contribute his knowledge to help improve their design and lessen their immediate impacts on fishermen.  But like many others who share both his point of view and his deep knowledge of the ocean, he has been frustrated by a welter of problems that leave fishermen feeling marginalized and even targeted as the movement toward marine reserves gains momentum.

“Particularly Sensitive Sea Areas”: Using a Comprehensive Planning Tool to Protect Habitats from Shipping

Letters from Readers

Last month, MPA News printed two letters suggesting the IUCN definition of “marine protected area” was too loose to be truly useful (MPA News 3:7). These letters, in turn, prompted responses from individuals who were instrumental in the development of the...
“Particularly Sensitive Sea Areas”: Using a Comprehensive Planning Tool to Protect Habitats from Shipping

Notes and News

Cocos Island update: Poacher fined, forfeits ship In a decision handed down by the supreme court of Costa Rica, the owners of an Ecuadorian longliner, caught in August 2001 fishing illegally in the country’s Cocos Island National Park (MPA News 3:4), have been...