Does the borderless quality of the worlds oceans make them difficult to protect?
Some say this is the case. But I think it’s a myth that we can’t solve some of the problems of the oceans without international treaties. You certainly do need international agreements to protect those creatures that crisscross the oceans, like sharks, whales, and tuna. But they aren’t typical. Most coastal ocean ecosystems are relatively self-contained. If we protect and restore those, we’ll be doing a lot — even if countries continue to overfish the high seas. Truth be told, we need both strong national and international action. You are a great supporter of marine reserves as one strategy for restoring oceanic environments. Why? Because they work. Networks of no-take reserves, where fishing, drilling, and mining are banned, have been shown to restore marine habitats and some fisheries. In reserves, everything gets much bigger — the fishes, the scallops, the urchins, the crabs. And those larger, longer-living individuals have many, many more young than the smaller, shorter-living on
