Marine reserves

[Ronald]

I came across this on another forum. http://www.yourseasyourvoice.com/ and fill in your areas and activities that you would like to see allowed or restricted under the Marine Reserves initiative. If we don't vote we could be ignored .

[somedose]

Ronald,
Sadly, it kills me to say that marine reserves do sweet F.A. Endemic reef species in the tropics do benefit from reserves as they are not very miratory. Unfortunately for us, for marine reserves (MPA's) or NTZ's to work off Ireland, the size off the area that would needed to be designated a reserve would have to be huge thus making commercial fishing unfeasible (and thus unprofitable). Don't get me wrong, I'd love to see huge MPA's in place. However, MPA's dont work unless there is a reduction in fishing effort in the local fleet otherwise the fishing is just shifted somewhere else. Reduce the boats and things will get better. But then the question arises - if you reduce the fleet size, and therefore reduce fish mortality, what's the point of an MPA in the first place? Studies in South AfricanHake show that MPA's do nothing for the conservation of their stocks as effort is just moved to the perimeters of the closed areas. Reduce the fleet and reduce the problem - simple as that

[santiago el campeon]

fully agree somedose.thankfully the fleet here and britain will reduce significantly over the next two years with decommissioning and a very strict c.o.p for older boats to pass(which most havent got a chance of passing and the cost of upgrading impossible to meet),restricted day at sea allowance,price of prawns etc. down 65% over last two years forcing alot of skippers to land dogs at 38c per kilo just to keep going,price of fuel set to rise.........

[jd]

The other side of it is that trawling can plough up and destroy local ecosystems. So from that point of view I'd be in favour. The other points made above are valid.

[Ronald]

All good valid points somedose and santiago el campeon, but surely it's better to support ideas like this, maybe then more areas can be designated reserves were commercial pressure from trawling and shellfish dredging can become a thing of the past, and more sustainable methods can be employed.
You can also nominate areas you think should be considered for protection, highlighting activities that you personally take part in around that area. It might not make a massive difference to some species of fish that you fish for personally, but the added protection to other species might improve somebody's day.