One of the foremost strategies for the recovery of marine ecosystems that has proven successful in other countries is the establishment of marine reserves. By protecting all marine life within a marine reserve, fish and lobsters grow older and larger, producing proportionally more eggs and young than smaller animals. Marine reserves work ecologically because they protect the oldest and largest animals, which would have been the first removed by fishing. Direct proof of this is evident in the Goat Island marine reserve, the first marine reserve established in New Zealand in 1975. In New Zealand, the amazing Experiencing Marine Reserves programme has taken over 30,000 children, and many of their parents, snorkelling inside and outside of the country’s marine reserves.

Source: The Irish Times June 11, 2019 15:33 UTC