page_title: Marine protected area
section_title: Recent research
hierarchical_section_title: Marine protected area / Recent research
caption_attribution_description: Zebrasoma_flavescens English: Yellow tang in aquarium-Muséum Liège (Belgium) Français&#160;: Chirurgien jaune à l'aquarium-Muséum de Liège (Belgique)
context_page_description: Marine protected areas are protected areas of seas, oceans, estuaries or in the US, the Great Lakes. These marine areas can come in many forms ranging from wildlife refuges to research facilities. MPAs restrict human activity for a conservation purpose, typically to protect natural or cultural resources. Such marine resources are protected by local, state, territorial, native, regional, national, or international authorities and differ substantially among and between nations. This variation includes different limitations on development, fishing practices, fishing seasons and catch limits, moorings and bans on removing or disrupting marine life. In some situations, MPAs also provide revenue for countries, potentially equal to the income that they would have if they were to grant companies permissions to fish.
  On 28 October 2016 in Hobart, Australia, the Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources agreed to establish the first Antarctic and largest marine protected area in the world encompassing 1.55 million km² in the Ross Sea.
context_section_description: In 2010, one study found that fish larvae can drift on ocean currents and reseed fish stocks at a distant location. This finding demonstrated that fish populations can be connected to distant locations through the process of larval drift.
  They investigated the yellow tang, because larva of this species stay in the general area of the reef in which they first settle. The tropical yellow tang is heavily fished by the aquarium trade. By the late 1990s, their stocks were collapsing. Nine MPAs were established off the coast of Hawaii to protect them. Larval drift has helped them establish themselves in different locations, and the fishery is recovering. "We've clearly shown that fish larvae that were spawned inside marine reserves can drift with currents and replenish fished areas long distances away," said coauthor Mark Hixon.
caption: The larvae of the yellow tang can drift more than 100 miles and reseed in a distant location.[92]
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