No-Take Reserves Work

Who would of thunk it? Like Mark Powell recently stated:

“In the “duh” category, fish are thriving in a no-fishing zone in Australia. After looking at graphs, the 10 year old son of one of the scientists said if you stop fishing, don’t you expect to find more fish? Uh…yeah.”

It also appears that this surprising result is repeated in the UK as reported by BBC today:

“Five years without fishing around Lundy Island off the coast of Devon have brought a significant revival in sea life, scientists report.

Lobsters are seven times more abundant within the protected zone than outside.”

DING! DING! DING! We have a winner! In all seriousness it is fantastic news to have clear cut evidence out there for the protection of important commercial fisheries habitat. An additional interesting point is that not only were there more lobstahs in the no-take reserve, but they were significantly larger than those caught outside the reserve (see photo on left)! If that wasn’t enough, they also found a species of crayfish that hasn’t been seen in the reserve in 5 years. But you know something else, those lobstahs don’t know where the reserve boundary is. The can’t tell when they are out in the wastelands, open game for the lobstah traps. One by one, little by little, these most tasty crustaceous lovelies will trickle out of the reserve and onto my spinach salad covered in lemon garlic butter. And you know what, the more lobstahs that are in that there reserve, the more lobstahs will be coming out of that there reserve and onto my plate. And I will be proud to consume this lobstah. I will be ecstatic in fact to know that the lobstah tail I just tossed on the Bar-B, smothered in blackened seasoning, grilled to moist, crisp perfection is there because we set aside habitat for its source population to grow in. I hope the state of Maine is taking notice.

Dear God, I am so hungry now…