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Popping out baby fish: Marine reserves can restock waters, say scientists

Posted by: Maven on November 10, 2009 at 7:44 am

Refugio Beach #10 June 2009From the Silicon Valley Mercury News:

“Protecting baby shellfish and mollusks from fishing nets in marine reserves actually helps replenish adult fish in open waters, according to UC Santa Cruz biologists.

Larvae in the Gulf of California whisk downstream and settle in fishable points along the coast, confirming what scientists had only predicted in computer models, the team reports in the journal PLoS ONE.

“It seems really obvious, but it had never been tested,” said UC Santa Cruz ecologist Peter Raimondi, co-author of the paper.

The team made computer models of how they expected larvae to be swept away with the current, then popped into fisheries in Puerto Penasco, Mexico on the northern shore of the Gulf of California to test their predictions.

They monitored 58 sites along the coast and set up buoys with satellite trackers to measure the current. Their model that showed larvae drifting along the coast, not spreading out, turned out to be correct.

“It all matched very nicely,” said Cudney-Bueno. …”

Read more from the Silicon Valley Mercury News by clicking here.

November 10, 2009 · Filed Under Oceans & Beaches

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