Experts at Annual Science Convention To Review Studies Showing Marine Protected Areas Restore Ocean Ecosystems

This week, marine science, policy and real-world conservation all converge in sunny San Diego.  The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is holding their annual meeting and the science behind marine protected areas will be an important topic of discussion.  San Diego is also part of the southern California region of marine protected areas that is currently being designed with the extensive input of citizens and scientists, under the Marine Life Protection Act.

I am happy to be attending the AAAS meeting, not just to hear from preeminent scientists about the latest studies demonstrating the effectiveness of marine protected areas, but also to moderate a panel on marine spatial planning, and to get in touch with the resource that I love dearly, enjoying some early morning surf sessions in warmer southern California waters.

Today, the San Diego Union-Tribune offered a preview of some of the important science justifying the creation of marine reserves that will be reviewed at AAAS.  For example, Stephen Palumbi, a marine science professor at Stanford University says that the basic science is solid: marine protected areas increase the health and vitality of marine life inside the reserves.  “[T]here are probably 120 to 150 studies of how reserves function within their borders, and even small reserves tend to give positive results.”  Dr. Palumbi will be presenting some of his findings this Saturday at AAAS.

The article also quotes Paul Dayton, an oceanography professor at the Scripps Institution for Oceanography at UC San Diego who served on the science advisory team helping to develop the south coast marine protected areas: “We know what the benefit will be for the species in the reserves -- They will increase in density, and they will increase in size.”