> Marine reserves fail to protect coral reefs

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Contact:
Isabelle Côté, 778.782.3705, 604.377.5323 (cell), imcote@sfu.ca
Emily Darling, 778.782.3989, edarling@sfu.ca, esdarling@gmail.com
Carol Thorbes, PAMR, 778.782.3035, cthorbes@sfu.ca

Yes

Marine reserves not only fail to give tropical reefs a fighting chance against climate change but may also increase their vulnerability to it according to Simon Fraser University researchers.

In a paper recently published in The Public Library of Science Biology, tropical marine biologists Isabelle Côté and Emily Darling dispute the widely held theory that imposing protective measures, such as fishing bans and pollution control, helps coral reefs cope with climate change.

Côté is globally recognized as a pioneer in using meta-analysis (mass scientific data analysis) to create a big picture of the fate of the world’s coral reefs.

“Marine reserves do not prevent major coral loss associated with bleaching and climate change,” says Côté, who approximates the number of reserves worldwide at 6,000. “In many cases, protected reefs seem to be even more vulnerable than unprotected ones.”

Côté and Darling believe that marine reserves may foster the growth of coral species that are extremely sensitive to bleaching, a type of tissue loss that kills corals.

“The corals that occur outside of reserves seem to tolerate temperature stress and bleaching better, likely because they are used to living in a stressful environment,” adds Darling. “This means that instead of increasing reef resilience to climate change, marine reserves may actually increase reef vulnerability by protecting temperature-sensitive species.”

The authors emphasize they do see marine protected areas as an important insurance policy for biodiversity. However, Côté says, “We need to get serious about tackling climate change and its root causes. Focusing on implementing locally-based strategies that only resolve easy fix problems will have no impact on the worldwide preservation of our already compromised coral reef system.”

The authors note that human-instigated stressors are responsible for reducing coral cover in areas such as the Caribbean by up to 80 per cent—catastrophic given that these reefs provide much of the world’s seafood and beach sand, and protect coastal areas from storms.

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