MPAs. The Fine Line Between Establishing a Mindset and Efficient Management

Ray Hilborn, an award-winning professor of aquatic and fishery science at the University of Washington in Seattle, USA, is an outspoken skeptic of the actual benefits of no-take Marine Protected Areas. An author of several books and hundreds of peer-reviewed articles, Hilborn has shown that the level of depletion of global fish stocks is often exaggerated. He also believes effective fisheries management is by far the most effective way to guarantee the future sustainability of global fisheries. His view flies in the face of South Africa’s proposal to increase the number of no-take Marine Protected Areas in line with our international obligations. Hilborn spoke to Fishing Industry News Southern Africa from his office in Seattle.

Hilborn’s visited South Africa at the invitation of the South African Deep-Sea Trawling Industry Association and took part in a public debate that generated huge public interest.