Even some fishermen embrace the concept. But it's going to take years of consensus building. Otherwise we're going to lose the few places left where there are still robust populations. Other nations have tried them and found something dramatic. Marine reserves actually help commercial fishing by providing a place for species to reproduce unharmed.
Chile is one big success.
Some species, including the valuable Chilean abalone, had been fished so heavily they were commercially extinct. Well, lo and behold, after two years the area was so dramatically different, it just blew everybody away. A lot of species that had been way overfished began to flourish. Recently, some Monterey residents tried to create a small marine refuge, less that half a square mile, offshore from Cannery Row, a stretch of water badly depleted by sport fishing. The idea was attacked immediately.