Of course you can read the original story ‘Coral Sea Heritage Park - Great news for recreational fisherman!’
Well a bit closer to home than the Coral Sea is the Great Barrier Reef and scientists have recently reported on the reefs protected zones and the report card is good!
Cairns Post journalist Julie Lightfoot drew my attention to this report in her story ‘Plenty of fish in no-go zone seas’ on 25 February 2010.
As I have mentioned before Julie edits Thursday’s environment page in the Cairns Post and it’s worth buying the paper on Thursdays for this page alone!
I deemed it too good for the compost bin so here it is!
Click on image for larger view.Of course you can read more about this story online: World-class protection boosts Australia's Great Barrier Reef.
The latter contains this neat content regarding spillover effect, a benefit I believe the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park as a whole would receive from a Coral Sea Heritage Park.
‘The researchers predict that as protected fish inside no-take areas grow larger, they will contribute many more larvae to the whole ecosystem. Therefore, the benefits of no-take areas are expected to extend far beyond the no-take boundaries, replenishing surrounding areas that are open to fishing.’
Time will tell with regards to Australia becoming a world leader with a Coral Sea Heritage Park but in the meantime this good news from the fish scientists is a great thing to read about!
Cheers Russ
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I heard some preliminary reports about the success of no-take areas in providing stock for adjacent waters. There's some really interesting work happening on migration of larvae and juvenile fish between reefs.
ReplyDeleteWith less than 1% of the worlds oceans protected we still have a very long way to go!
ReplyDeleteI have not delved deeply enough into this subject as I would like to but what I am reading about spill over effect in existing marine sanctuaries is very encouraging.
The other thing that has surprised me is the rapid rate at which newly protected reefs regenerate, something this report has noted as well.
Seems like nature has its own way of fighting back, and though it may seem encouraging, these life forms are in fact vulnerable to human destruction and so we as humans cannot take this for granted and must carry on doing what we should to protect them. Holding on to the hope that more would be done to protect Planet Earth, not just by the green organisations involved, but mankind as a whole.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comments Chun
ReplyDeleteI am amazed by the recovery reefs and fish populations can make when we reduce the human pressures on them. I also agree that not just the green groups but our species as a whole that must work together to protect this ball in space we call home!