Marine reserves in the past have often been controversial because they can create a “no take” zone, which keeps the local community from fishing their favorite part of the coastline. Marine reserves in the past have often been controversial because they can create a “no take” zone, which keeps the local community from fishing their favorite part of the coastline. Hundreds of years ago the Hawaiian royalty created no-take zones often and that was based on the behaviour and breeding of certain valuable fish species.
Fish like the moi we banned from taking during their migration into the estuaries for breeding, and in many ahupua‘a an entire reef system was closed for fishing for half of the year to allow for a successful breeding season. By studying the native fish population the Hawaiians managed their fish takes, so there was always enough fish for the next generation. I set out on an adventure 10 years ago to travel around the world and study successful marine sanctuaries and no-take zones to see if they actually worked to increase the amount of fish the local community was able to catch.
I wanted to know if the closing of a reef for fishing created a long term sustainable fishery for each area. I traveled to and studied long term marine sanctuaries in Palau, Philippines, Caribbean, Indonesia, California and the Galapagos Islands and I was amazed at what I found. Due to the use of DNA, we now know fish will breed in one area and their fertilized eggs may drift on c.