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Marine Protected Areas -- A Tool For Management By Patricia Kurkul Most Northeastern marine users are already working with marine protected areas as defined by the new Executive Order on marine protected areas: the two Critical Habitat Areas for North Atlantic right whales off Massachusetts and the three indefinite fishery closure areas on Georges Bank. In fact most of these areas have a history of use over several decades as what we might now call a marine protected area. The recent Executive Order provides us with an opportunity to focus on the role these areas play in resource and habitat stewardship. NOAA Fisheries in the Northeast has made the most extensive use of the marine protected area concept on Georges Bank, with the current closures established in 1994 in response to depletion of Georges cod, haddock, and yellowtail flounder stocks. These were known to be important spawning areas and areas where the fish aggregated, even at low population levels. Coincidentally, they were also known to contain productive sea scallop beds, although these too were severely depleted at the time. All commercial gear capable of taking groundfish was excluded from fishing inside the areas, including scallop dredges. After nearly six years, we can show that these protective areas effectively reduced fishing mortality, provided existing adult fish and scallops with the opportunity to spawn several times, and improved protection for juveniles. The closures are a significant factor in the much improved stock biomass for all three fish species, the nearly rebuilt status of yellowtail on Georges, and the sea scallops presently being harvested from those formerly depleted beds. Research in the closed areas has expanded our knowledge of the different habitats and the role they play in the health of living marine resources. It has also provided information critical to improving our management programs. The research continues to monitor changes in stocks and changes in the habitat owing to the removal of some fishing gear, and to determine how efficient sea scallop dredges are in removing standing stocks. Because of this information, and the electronic positioning and reporting capability of the scallop fleet, we were able to design a limited sea scallop fishery on the recovered sea scallop beds that would not deplete the beds, not damage groundfish recovery owing to bycatch, and not occur on bottom that would be significantly changed by dredging. Although we are in the early days of this Executive Order, I believe that the NOAA Fisheries approach of appropriate protection and shared use of marine protected areas is compatible with its goals. We certainly look forward to pooling our information with that of others and to the involvement of the public in this process, which I view as a dynamic and exciting chance to better manage our nation's ocean. Patricia Kurkul has been the Regional Administrator of the National Marine Fisheries Northeast Regional Office since 1999. A resident of Ipswich, Mass., Ms. Kurkul earned her B.A. in resource economics from the University of Rhode Island. In 1980, she joined NOAA Fisheries as an industry economist where she began her career in fisheries management, and has become an expert on fishery management laws and authorities over her past 20 years of service with the agency. In addition to serving as the Regional Administrator, she has also served as the Head of the U.S. Delegation to the U.S. Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization since 1999. |