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Massive Marine Reserve Created In Atlantic (bbc.com)
An anonymous reader writes: The British government has announced that it will create a marine reserve slightly smaller than the UK in the waters off Ascension Island. The South Atlantic reserve totals 234,291 sq km and is being funded with the help of a £300,000 grant from the charitable Bacon Foundation. Charles Clover, Blue Marine Foundation chairman, said: "Ascension has been at the frontiers of science since Charles Darwin went there in the 19th Century, so it is entirely appropriate that it is now at the centre of a great scientific effort to design the Atlantic's largest marine reserve."
Who's going to stop factory ships from going in there and trawling up the fish?
Creating a marine reserve is a declaration of intent; it means that if you violate it, you have been warned. We already have enough satelites looking down (think Google Maps) the be able to follow ships around across the oceans, just to mention one thing, and there has been a lot talk in recent years about actually using this to enforce rules on shipping and fishing. This is just another small piece in that puzzle; we don't necessarily need to have marine vessels defending these areas, when we can following the perpetrators on the big CCTV in the sky and then take them to court and strip to of all assets. If there is one thing the big multinationals that own the factory ships fear, it's losing money in a serious way. I hope they will be flayed and left in a salt pit.