Protecting Oceans Far Cheaper Than Subsidizing Fishing - Reuters

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JOHANNESBURG — "Protecting the world's oceans will cost governments far less than the amount they spend on subsidies for fishing fleets and will lead to bigger catches in the long run, according to a new study.

The study, by conservation group WWF International and Britain's Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, estimates that a network of marine protected areas (MPAs) covering 30 percent of Earth's oceans would cost $12 billion to $14 billion annually. It says this falls far short of the $15 billion to $30 billion already spent each year on subsidies to commercial fisheries, which environmentalists say encourages overfishing.

The study was published on Monday in the U.S. journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"MPAs turn around fisheries and build up (fish) populations in adjacent areas," said Callum Roberts, one of the study's authors who is a fisheries biologist at the University of York in England. "In St. Lucia in the Caribbean, fish catches increased by 50 to 100 percent as a consequence of MPAs created in 1995," he said from his UK office."

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http://www.enn.com/news/2004-06-15/s_24883.asp