New peer-reviewed research in the journal Science demonstrates the power of strict bans against industrial fishing in marine protected areas (MPAs).
The analysis for the research combined satellite imagery and artificial intelligence (AI) to detect previously untraceable vessels and revealed that most of the globe’s fully and highly protected MPAs successfully deter illegal fishing. Indeed, it showed:
- Strongly protected MPAs had, on average, nine times fewer fishing vessels per square kilometer than unprotected coastal areas.
- 78.5% of the 1,380 MPAs studied had no commercial fishing activity;
- Of the MPAs where satellite images detected illegal fishing activity, 82% of them averaged less than 24 hours of activity per calendar year
Juan Mayorga, a scientist and co-author of the study said; “The ocean is no longer too big to watch. With cutting-edge satellites and AI, we’re making illegal fishing visible and proving that strong marine protections work,”
Recent research has shown that MPAs produce spillover of fishes and invertebrates, increasing the catches of species from small and sedentary (lobsters, scallops) to large and migratory (tuna). Fishing catch per unit effort increases, on average, 12% to 18% near the boundaries of large fully protected MPAs.