For centuries, communities have closed areas by tradition or law to protect their resources and livelihoods. However, with more and more pressure on the world's dwindling fisheries, there is an urgent need to create additional marine protected areas to conserve fish and other marine life for future generations. Belize Coastal Zone, Belize. Within a comprehensive management plan, marine protected areas provide these communities with a valuable conservation tool, and allow fish the chance to breed and grow. In many cases, areas closed to fishing are relatively small but still provide vital ecological and economic benefits.
Fishers benefit too.
Around the world, fishers have come to recognize the value of marine protected areas. The Endangered Seas Campaign is working in some of the world's most biologically diverse marine regions, promoting new marine protected areas, ensuring existing areas are managed effectively and securing a future for coastal communities.