| Study: Without crowds, bigger fish back at Molokini | |
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Source: The Maui News |
6/29/2020 |
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More fish and larger predators, such as ulua, omilu and reef sharks, have returned to the waters off Molokini in the few months that commercial boat traffic has been halted due to COVID-19 emergency orders, said a researcher who was part of a survey team of the preserve.
“While these increases are likely temporary and will probably disappear once visitors return to Molokini, our surveys show just how quickly our marine systems can rebound if given a chance,” said Alan Friedlander, a chief scientist with National Geographic and head of the University of Hawaii Fisheries Ecology Research Laboratory, in a news release Tuesday. |
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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. |
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