We engaged in cooperative research with fishers and stakeholders to characterize the fine-scale, spatio-temporal characteristics of spawning behavior in an aggregating marine fish (Cynoscion othonopterus: Sciaenidae) and coincident activities of its commercial fishery in the Upper Gulf of California. Approximately 1.5-1.8 million fish are harvested annually from spawning aggregations of C. otho...

Well-designed and effectively managed networks of marine reserves can be effective tools for both fisheries management and biodiversity conservation. Connectivity, the demographic linking of local populations through the dispersal of individuals as larvae, juveniles or adults, is a key ecological factor to consider in marine reserve design, since it has important implications for the persistenc...

Marine reserves are gaining attention around the world as a tool to both conserve ocean resources and improve the productivity of fisheries. Using simulation analysis, we investigate in a limited-entry fishery comprising nine subpopulations the inherent bioeconomic trade-offs associated with cost-effective designs of marine reserve networks—that is, the trade-offs between the degree of connecte...

The December 2003/January 2004 issue of MPA News offered two essays by scientists on marine reserve research. One questioned the rigor with which reserve research has been conducted, while the other explained difficulties involved in studying reserves, including finding adequate control sites. The essays presented a dilemma: we all want the best science on reserves, but to get it will require s...

Blooms of alien invasive marine algae have become common, greatly altering the health and stability of nearshore marine ecosystems. Concurrently, herbivorous fishes have been severely overfished in many locations worldwide, contributing to increases in macroalgal cover. We used a multi-pronged, interdisciplinary approach to test if higher biomass of herbivorous fishes inside a no-take marine re...

Mesophotic coral ecosystems in the Indo-Pacific remain relatively unexplored, particularly at lower mesophotic depths (≥60 m), despite their potentially large spatial extent. Here, we used a remotely operated vehicle to conduct a qualitative assessment of the zooxanthellate coral community at lower mesophotic depths (60-125 m) at 10 different locations in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park and ...

Marine reserves can help in maintaining biodiversity and potentially be useful as a Wshery management tool by removing human-mediated impacts. Intertidal, soft-sediment habitats can often support robust recreational and commercial shellWsh harvests, especially for clams; however, there is limited research on the eVects of reserves in these habitats. In San Juan County, Washington, several reser...

Marine reserves are rapidly becoming an important tool for protection and recovery of depleted marine populations. However, the relative value of reserves to particular species is strongly dependent on its life history and behavior. We present a general conceptual framework for considering dispersal in simple demographic models. This framework includes transition matrices that consist of two ag...

New Zealand pioneered marine reserves, areas in the sea protected from all direct human interference. The first reserve was proposed in 1965 and established in 1977. It has operated successfully ever since. Even one instance proves that such things are possible. All marine reserves in NZ were initially greeted by a range of objections, and widespread and often loud opposition, This is not surpr...