No-Take Reserves

* Re “A Dual Challenge: Conserve Resources and Protect Access,” Ventura County Perspective, March 11.

Matthew Cahn succinctly identifies the challenges involved in balancing the urgent need to protect fragile marine ecosystems within the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary with the interests of various stakeholders who wish to retain access to fishing grounds within the sanctuary.

Both sides in this debate should find good news in the recent consensus statement by more than 150 of the world’s leading marine scientists on the benefits of marine reserves, or no-take zones.

The best available science indicates that marine reserves not only protect the habitats upon which fish and other marine life depend but also result in increased catches for commercial and sport fishermen as fish populations within the reserves spill into surrounding areas. Many fishermen and others who opposed a reserve system in New Zealand, for example, have come to embrace it because of the fishing and tourism benefits it has yielded.

The ideal result of a stakeholder-based decision-making process is a solution that serves the long-term interests of all parties. It seems clear that a system of no-take marine reserves within the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary is such a solution.

JOE GEEVER

Pacific Fisheries Coordinator

American Oceans Campaign

Los Angeles