Most of the world’s protected marine areas are failing to properly protect aquatic life, with many showing few differences from neighboring areas that are openly fished, an Australian-led study has found.
University of Tasmania research of 87 marine protected areas in 40 countries showed the best marine parks had on average eight times more large fish and 14 times more sharks than fished areas.
But the research, published in Nature, found that 59% of the marine parks studied were “not ecologically distinguishable from fished sites”.
Researchers identified five key traits of a well-managed marine park – no fish take, well enforced, established for longer than 10 years, larger than 100 square km and isolated by deep water or sand.
Only marine parks with four or all five of these criteria were effectively boosting conservation values, the study found. Among the 26 marine areas studied in Australia, the only place with all five key traits was Middle Reef, near Lord Howe Island.
The six-year study, which utilised scientists and divers from 19 countries, concluded that while the number of marine protected areas was increasing rapidly, the benefits generated were “difficult to predict and under debate”.
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