Nature Study Finds No Biomass and Species Richness Benefits In Many MPAs

A recent study, “Global conservation outcomes depend on marine protected areas with five key features” by Graham J. Edgar et al., analyzes the conservation benefits from 87 global Marine Protected Areas. This study, published in Nature, examines the impact of MPAs on fish by comparing MPAs to fished areas. This study concludes that many MPAs are no different from fished areas in terms of fish biomass and species richness. This study’s abstract reads as follows:

CRE Comments on BOEM’s Seismic ICR

The Center for Regulatory Effectiveness filed comments on the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s (“BOEM”) Information Collection Request (“ICR”) for certain activities including seismic airguns. This ICR must be approved by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget’s Office of Information and Regulatory affairs before the ICR can be enforced. CRE’s comments made the following and other points.

• The U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service is cooperating with BOEM indeveloping these new monitoring requirements, which both Agencies refer to as the Long Term Monitoring Plan (“LTMP”). The requested ICR 1010-0048 does not cover and would not authorize any information collections in the LTMP.

National Geographic Claims Ocean Zoning Win

The National Geographic published an article discussing “14 Ocean Conservation Wins of 2014.” They include the following:

“Ocean zoning is gaining traction as a management approach. Over 30 countries have embraced ocean zoning as a management tool. The latest is the Blue Halo Initiative in Barbuda, where the Waitt Institute partnered with the local government to develop comprehensive management plans for their waters. After 17 months of community consultations, this resulted in a zoning map that includes protection of 33% of the coastal waters in marine reserves.”

Click here for entire National Geographic article.