THE NOTION OF MARINE RESERVES

There is a long and cherished tradition around the world of setting aside wilderness and park areas for the long-term enjoyment and benefit of the public. The United States has set the standard. In 1872, President Ulysses S. Grant signed a bill to create the first national park, Yellowstone. In 1894, Yellowstone became a no-take zone; all hunting was prohibited. Generally, the protection of natural habitat by Congress began as early as 1903 and continued throughout the early part of the twentieth century.

Today, about 4% of the land in the U.S. have been protected in national parks. Our nationís territory now extends beyond the land, 200 miles out to sea. This is termed the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). Yet, less than 0.5% of U.S. territorial waters are protected in existing National Marine Sanctuaries. Fishing is banned within only 36 square miles (0.2%) of all these sanctuary waters, amounting to about 0.001% (one thousandth of a percent) of all U.S. territorial waters.

On the U.S. Pacific Coast, conventional fisheries management strategies have not prevented the decline of many groundfish species and the fisheries associated with them. Fifteen species of groundfish appear to be overfished, including two species that have declined to less than 10% of their unfished levels: ling cod and bocaccio (a kind of rockfish). Several species do not appear to be reaching the population levels expected as a result of fisheries management (bocaccio, widow, canary, yellowtail, and black rockfish); these stocks are not being harvested sustainability (Ralston, 1998). The future of marine ecosystems, and the fishing industry is at best uncertain without innovative and improved conservation strategies. New guidelines for preventing overfishing and rebuilding depleted stocks adopted by the Pacific Fisheries Management Council are a step in the right direction, but may not be sufficiently conservative.

Setting aside parts of the ocean that serve important roles during reproduction, pelagic dispersal, or juvenile settlement can safeguard against many threats facing marine organisms (Bohnsack, 1993). More marine reserves in which fishing is banned are proposed to protect marine organisms and the fisheries that depend on them. Ocean environments without fishing disturbance are needed to fully realize the research, educational, and conservation benefits of marine protected areas. The biodiversity and ecosystems that would be protected within marine reserves provide many goods and services to society, such as insurance against fishery management failures, potentially enhanced fisheries, a way to reduce uncertainty about the effects of fishing and other factors on habitat, a way to separate the effects of fishing from the effects of environmental variation, enhanced educational opportunities, increased revenue from tourism and property sales, and potentially important medicines and other natural products. (Rodney M. Fujita, February, 2001)

In May 2000, President Clinton issued an Executive Order, which has been reviewed and let stand by the Bush Administration in 2001, that requires federal agencies to "develop, strengthen and expand" a national system of marine protected areas to help assure the conservation of natural and cultural resources. This executive order also establishes a federal science center and training center for marine protected areas and a federal advisory committee.

The Pacific Fisheries Management Council (PFMC) has endorsed using no-take areas called "marine reserves" to help restore dwindling groundfish populations and provide fish for future generations of fishers. These no-take reserves are seen as one "tool" in groundfish rebuilding efforts which; to be effective, also need to be coupled with other strategies. In Oregon, the role of marine refuges is being explored by the Oregon Policy Advisory Council (OPAC) within its Territorial Sea Plan. A report to the Governor is due by August, 2002.

The Presidentís Executive Order broadly defines marine protected areas to include any area of the marine environment in which federal, state; tribal or local laws or regulations have been enacted to protect natural or cultural resources.

Oregon's entire three-mile Territorial Sea and all Oregon estuaries are "marine protected areas" under the President's definition. Though some "protection" exists, there is still also a high degree of human use there. Oregon also has many small coastal sites, such as rocky intertidal marine gardens or habitat refuges, where special regulations have been enacted by state or federal agencies. These are marine protected areas also.

The term marine reserve is most often used to mean an area where no extractive or harvest uses are allowed or are very highly regulated. The PFMC is considering no-take
"marine reserves" as a management tool for rockfish and other species, where certain or all fishing activities would be excluded.