Director, Marine Science Institute, UC Santa Barbara
Although a minute fraction of the sea is permanently protected in no fishing zones called marine reserves, well over 100 marine reserves have been established globally. These protected areas are typified by much greater densities, biomass, and diversity of marine life. These changes within marine reserves can have conservation benefits by protecting threatened species. They can also have potential fisheries benefits by the spillover of adults or export of larvae across the reserve boundary. To date, these conservation and fisheries benefits are minute, because the collective size of protected areas is equally minute. To enhance the benefits of marine reserves for conservation and fisheries, many have argued for the establishment of networks of multiple reserves. I will examine the rapidly emerging science of marine reserve networks to explore whether there are situations and design criteria that may simultaneously benefit both conservation and fisheries or whether inherent constraints will inevitably require compromises.
Steven Gaines is Director of the Marine Science Institute and Professor of Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology at the University of California at Santa Barbara. He is a marine ecologist who studies marine conservation, the design of marine reserves, the impact of climate change on oceans, and sustainable fisheries. Steve is a lead investigator of several groups: 1) PISCO (Partnership for Interdisciplinary Studies of Coastal Oceans), a consortium studying marine ecosystems of the west coast of the US, 2) the Santa Barbara Coastal LTER (Long Term Ecological Research) that studies connections between coastal watersheds and the ecology of kelp forests, 3) the Sustainable Fisheries Group, which uses market based approaches to enhance the sustainability of fisheries, and 4) Flow, Fish and Fishing, a biocomplexity project examining connections between ocean physics, fish, and fishing. Steve was awarded a Pew Fellowship in 2003 to extend the conceptual framework for networks of marine reserves and uses the findings of this work to aid the ongoing efforts of the Marine Life Protection Act to establish a state-wide network of marine protected areas.
Steve received his Ph.D. in zoology in 1983 from Oregon State University and was a postdoctoral fellow and research scientist at Stanford University for four years. In 1987, he joined the faculty of Brown University and then the faculty at UC Santa Barbara in 1994. Steve became Director of the Marine Science Institute at UCSB in 1997 and has served as Acting Vice Chancellor for Research at UCSB, and Acting Dean of Science.
White, C. et al. In Press. Marine reserve effect on fishery profit. Ecology Letters.
Streaming
video - click here
Need to have Windows Media Player (connect
here to DOWNLOAD the program)