title: Rapid increase in fish numbers follows creation of world's largest marine reserve network.
abstract: No-take marine reserves (NTMRs) are much advocated as a solution to managing marine ecosystems, protecting exploited species and restoring natural states of biodiversity [1,2]. Increasingly, it is becoming clear that effective marine conservation and management at ecosystem and regional scales requires extensive networks of NTMRs [1,2]. The world's largest network of such reserves was established on Australia's Great Barrier Reef (GBR) in 2004. Closing such a large area to all fishing has been socially and politically controversial, making it imperative that the effectiveness of this new reserve network be assessed. Here we report evidence, first, that the densities of the major target species of the GBR reef line fisheries were significantly higher in the new NTMRs, compared with fished sites, in just two years; and second, that the positive differences were consistent for multiple marine reserves over an unprecedented spatial scale (>1,000 km).
authors.forename: Garry R
authors.initials: GR
authors.lastname: Russ
authors.forename: Alistair J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Cheal
authors.forename: Andrew M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Dolman
authors.forename: Michael J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Emslie
authors.forename: Richard D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Evans
authors.forename: Ian
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.forename: Hugh
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sweatman
authors.forename: David H
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Williamson
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D037421:Anthozoa / Q000502:physiology*; D001315:Australia; D044822:Biodiversity; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D017753:Ecosystem; D008386:Marine Biology; D009792:Oceans and Seas; D010473:Perciformes / Q000502:physiology*; D011156:Population Density; D015397:Program Evaluation; D013045:Species Specificity; D013997:Time Factors