I significantly alter habitat everyday with my farm tractor by tilling. Far from getting a macho feeling by burning fuel and destroying life forms, I get the satisfaction of seeing a whole new and more productive ecosystem arise from the barren soil. The Bible talks about letting land lie fallow on a rotational basis and that makes sense. Rotational fishing grounds are a good place to begin to understand the impacts of letting marine grounds lie fallow. The more we improve our knowledge of producer ecosystems, the better able we are to maintain sustainable production of crops on even less ground.
Higher productivity means less pressure to put more undisturbed ecosystems into production.
Human society is built on the belief that modified ecosystems may be better and more efficient than natural systems. We are at a nascent stage in our understanding of marine ecosystem productivity. However, those that have been urging a precautionary approach to fisheries seem more than willing to run headlong into the unknown when it comes to MPAs. Enter MPAs MPAs have become popular now that President Clinton has decided to bypass the fishery management process. As I understand the function of an MPA, it is to provide some high degree of protection to a portion of the marine living resource ecosystem for a prolonged time period.