Conservation

Commercial fishermen may be able to catch more of the profitable fish they want with marine reserves than without them, according to a study in the journal PNAS led by the University of California, Davis. Using marine reserves as a management tool could also help the recently rebounded West Coast groundfish fishery sustain itself, the study notes.

Marine reserves are a subset of Marine Protected Areas. Some MPAs allow fishing, but marine reserves are areas of the ocean closed to fishing and other extractive activities.

Dr. Kristin Aquilino and Professor Gary Cherr at UC Davis hope hope to save the species by reintroducing their captive-bred population back into the wild. While once thriving in kelp forests in Southern California and Mexico, the white abalone are now being threatening by overfishing and are close to extinction. By breeding them in captivity, there is hope that there may be a chance for the populations to recover. 

Bodega Marine Laboratory team member Kristin Aquilino has been featured on KQED Science regarding her efforts to study and protect white abalone. Aquilino reflects on her time at BML researching abalone and the path to species revival.

Read the KQED Science article here. 

The study, published January 12 in the journal Ecology, found that coral reef fish, like some land-baed animals, experience “landscapes of fear”. The term describes how fish and other organisms perceive the safety of their environment based on where and how much shelter from predators is available.