What are "No-Take" Marine
Reserves?
The concept of marine reserves is new and different from standard
marine management. It is proactive rather than reactive. Its operation is
not dependent on detailed information. Marine reserves are additional to detailed
and general marine planning and management, which will continue to operate
and develop outside the reserves. Marine reserves provide essential support
to these management systems, especially by providing insurance and buffers
against ignorance and error. Marine reserves aim to maintain (or restore) the intrinsic
biodiversity and natural processes. No fishing is permitted nor any removal
of material. No dredging, dumping, construction or any other direct disturbance
is allowed. Within these limits, people are encouraged to view the results
(directly or vicariously) and hence learn the values of natural biodiversity.
The reserves and their rules are permanent.
10% ? - Why this is a miminum size for a marine reserve.The key point is not the size of particular reserves (or their
number) but the size of the whole network. This size is measured as a proportion
of the whole sea as a percentage of area. This percentage is maintained
at all scales regional, ecological, etc., i.e. it feeds back to representation.
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