NURP and TOC funded workshop inspires 1st book on Marine Reserves
This story entered on 12th Jul, 2004 08:49:54 AM PST

Around the world, marine resource managers are increasingly using no-take marine reserves as a tool for protecting marine ecosystems and their biodiversity, managing fisheries, enhancing non-consumptive benefits, and buffering fisheries against unpredictable fluctuations. A new book entitled Marine Reserves: A Guide to Science, Design, and Use published by Island Press (www.islandpress.org) provides a comprehensive overview of marine reserves. This book is a collaboration between Mr. Jack Sobel of The Ocean Conservancy (TOC) and Dr. Craig Dahlgren formerly of NURP's Caribbean Marine Research Center (CMRC) (now associated with the Perry Marine Institute for Science, the host for CMRC).

The book is culmination of a relationship between TOC and NURP/CMRC that began in 1996 with a NURP sponsored workshop that TOC hosted at the CMRC field station on Lee Stocking Island, Bahamas. This workshop was one of the first efforts to bring together scientists from around the world to discuss the use of no-take marine reserves.

Marine Reserves: A Guide to Science Design and Use is the first guidebook on marine reserves for scientists, students, conservationists, and marine resource managers. It covers a wide range of issues related to the use of marine reserves, including biological and geophysical issues relevant to reserve design, potential ecological and economic benefits and the likelihood of achieving them, general principles for design and siting, and the influence of socioeconomic factors on design and implementation. The book also highlights lessons learned from past marine reserve efforts through case studies of marine reserves in the Bahamas, Belize, California, and the Florida Keys and a global review of marine reserve use.

Contact information
Name: John Marr
Tel: (561) 741-192
jmarr@cmrc.org