Marine Reserve Proves It's Worth

Photo by stepheye

Well, imagine that! It turns out that if you ban fishing in the area, then the sealife flourishes!

Lamlash Bay, off the Isle of Arran, was declared a Marine Reserve in 2008 and measures were taken to protect the seabed, including a ban on fishing. The result, a couple of years later, is a flourishing ecosystem that is producing an abundance of juvenile scallops.

The scientists who are studying the reserve reckon that in a couple of more years then the area around the reserve will also be producing a lot more scallops, providing a boom for the local fishing industry.

Perhaps it's a lesson that our North Sea fishermen should learn, before they deplete the seas entirely?