On Reserve

Doing homework really is something that I like to do. Especially when it's homework that I like to call "active" homework instead of "passive" homework. I'm taking a class this term called Marine Conservation Biology and it's one of the best classes that I've ever taken. It's a debate class, meaning that each week we learn about an issue in marine conservation and then we debate about it. You don't know if you're going to be pro or con so you really have to know your stuff for both sides.

This week we're talking about the effectiveness of Marine Reserves (complete no-take zones) and whether or not they're a viable management tool. Of course they're a valuable tool, but how much should we rely on reserves? That seems to be the key question. A reserve is really good at taking care of fish in a certain area, but if we know little about the life history of the targeted fish (West Coast rockfish for example) what good is a reserve going to do if we don't know if what we're protecting is a spawning ground or an area where the fish just 'hang out' until they are mature.

Some people in class have referencing the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park in Australia, a place that I hold near and dear to my heart. Probably the best (and I think the only) example of a long standing marine reserve, the GBRMP now has available the data which is needed to evaluate whether reserves really are accomplishing the goals they were established for.

One area of development that I am particularly interested in is the need for some kind of legislation on either reserves or protected areas in the Bahamas. There's been a lot of movement forward in deciding what needs to be done and which areas should be protected, but really I don't know how effective it'll be if there isn't some kind of community effort to go along with the scientific one. It seems like a bad idea to just tell people they can't do something without having involved them in the decision making process and to not explain to them why they can't do something. What you'll get if you cut out the community is an increased rate of poaching in the reserve and a distanced community that will be highly resistant to any sort of scientific intrusion. And that's a bad situation all around.

Once again, more evidence that community education programs are an essential component of any conservation effort.