Vast Underwater Survey Identifies Five Keys to Conserving Ocean Life
Undersea Citizen Science Australian researcher Graham Edgar and colleagues have trained and supported a volunteer corps of experienced SCUBA divers in doing scientific underwater surveys. Edgar says that this "Reef Life Survey" project has created the largest consistent data set on global marine biodiversity to date. The data suggest that the five key factors to a successful marine sanctuary are: no take (fishing), enforced boundaries, old (over 10 years in existence), large, and isolated. Areas with at least four of these five "NEOLI" factors present showed dramatic improvements in fish abundance and diversity. This photo dates from a 2010 Reef Life Survey expedition off the coast of Western Australia. Reef Life Survey Oceans cover 70 percent of the Earth. Somewhat less than 2 percent of that area has been set aside in marine...