A study by researchers from the U.S., U.K., Australia, France, Norway, Ecuador, and Sudan finds MPAs key to marine species recovery

After analyzing the size of over 800,000 individual fish around the world and realizing many have sustained stunted growth, researchers have recommended creating marine protected areas (MPAs) in patches of remote open ocean to ensure goals outlined by the “30x30” initiative come to fruition.A study published in the journal Science in February, "Divergent responses of pelagic and benthic fish body-size structure to remoteness and protection from humans," compiled by researchers from the U.S., U.K., Australia, France, Norway, Ecuador, and Sudan, analyzed the abundance and size of sea creatures – from zooplankton to large predators – in the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian oceans, and found that pelagic, or open ocean, species were profoundly smaller near human communities compared to benthic, seabed-dwelling fish. This highlights the heightened vulnerability of pelagic species to human impacts, according to the study.“Many pelagic sharks and fish populations are at historically low ...