Marine reserves and the restoration of fisheries and marine ecosystems in the South China Sea

The South China Sea has been devastated by human fishing. This paper report s an initiative to restore Hong Kong's marine ecosystems and fisheries thro ugh the deployment of artificial reefs (ARs) within marine protected areas (MPAs). Current catch and biomass data by species and fishery sector were a vailable. Quasi-spatial ecosystem simulations, using a modified ECOSIM meth od, have been employed to forecast benefits from a successful MPA/AR system . Results indicate that, despite increasing fishing power in the Hong Kong fleet, a 10-20% MPA/AR system could provide significant benefits within 10 yrs, and shifts to low-value pelagic fish could be reversed. Approximate sc ores, expressing how species benefit from protected ARs, suggest that resul ts are not biased by changes in species composition. The design of MPA/ARs balances island biogeographic theory with the needs of monitoring and compl iance: minimizing perimeter losses and establishing colonizing corridors ar e trade-offs with statistical replication and monitoring, whereas sacrifice of some ARs to fishing encourages compliance and learning. In Hong Kong, w orkshops with fishing communities encouraged support. Bioeconomic analysis shows an MPA/AR system increasing fishery value, but noncompliance rapidly erodes benefits. The benefits of this approach are assessed together with p roblems and difficulties that have arisen.