On the Role of Underwater Parks and Sanctuaries in the Management of Coastal Resources in the Southeastern United States

Abstract

Aquatic resources in parks and reserves are not as adequately protected as comparable terrestrial resources. Thus the values of protected aquatic ecosystems as standards for comparison, reservoirs of genetic materials, and ‘emotional’ reserves, are apt to be greatly diminished.Even seemingly static ecosystems such as coral reefs are dynamic, changing dramatically in response to natural short-term environmental variations. Such ecosystems require protected natural areas as dynamic standards that will allow distinctions to be drawn between effects of exploitation or pollution and normal variation. Furthermore, fisheries harvests may reduce the size at which exploited species mature, and reduce the amount and variability of genetic material produced by exploited populations.The seven underwater parks or sanctuaries established since 1935 in Florida and the U.S. Virgin Islands exhibit wide variations in the degree of protection accorded to aquatic resources, a range being apparent from nearly complete protection in the first parks to be established to virtually no protection at all in the recently-established parks.The consequences of permitting consumptive uses of aquatic resources in parks and reserves need to be objectively evaluated. Unless these consumptive uses are severely curtailed or eliminated, the primary values of the parks and reserves may never be realized.