The recent data of Molokini provided further evidence of findings in a study published in October, which found that many marine management areas in Hawaii are too small and allow some form of human use. This can limit their ability to restore depleted fisheries.

Friedlander was lead author of the study titled “Characteristics of effective marine protected areas in Hawai’i,” published in Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems.

The average marine management area size in Hawaii is almost a half square mile, “minuscule compared with the geographic extent of the species they are designed to protect,” the news release about the study said. Marine management areas comprise 5 percent of state waters, which extend out to 3 nautical miles from shore. Of that percentage, only 1.4 percent of nearshore areas are fully and highly protected waters — and most of that area is the Kaho’olawe Island Reserve.