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Science 1 June 2007:
Vol. 316. no. 5829, p. 1285
DOI: 10.1126/science.1138466
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Technical Comments

Response to Comments on "Impacts of Biodiversity Loss on Ocean Ecosystem Services"

Boris Worm,1* Edward B. Barbier,2 Nicola Beaumont,3 J. Emmett Duffy,4 Carl Folke,5,6 Benjamin S. Halpern,7 Jeremy B. C. Jackson,8,9 Heike K. Lotze,1 Fiorenza Micheli,10 Stephen R. Palumbi,10 Enric Sala,8 Kimberley A. Selkoe,7 John J. Stachowicz,11 Reg Watson12

We show that globally declining fisheries catch trends cannot be explained by random processes and are consistent with declining stock abundance trends. Future projections are inherently uncertain but may provide a benchmark against which to assess the effectiveness of conservation measures. Marine reserves and fisheries closures are among those measures and can be equally effective in tropical and temperate areas—but must be combined with catch-, effort-, and gear restrictions to meet global conservation objectives.

1 Department of Biology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada B3H 4J1.
2 Department of Economics and Finance, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY 82071, USA.
3 Plymouth Marine Laboratory, Plymouth PL1 3DH, UK.
4 Virginia Institute of Marine Science, Gloucester Point, VA 23062–1346, USA.
5 Department of Systems Ecology, Stockholm University, Stockholm SE-106 91, Sweden.
6 Beijer International Institute of Ecological Economics, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, SE-104 05, Stockholm, Sweden.
7 National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, Santa Barbara, CA 93101, USA.
8 Center for Marine Biodiversity and Conservation, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, CA 92093–0202, USA.
9 Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Box 2072 Balboa, Republic of Panama.
10 Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford University, Pacific Grove, CA 93950, USA.
11 Section of Evolution and Ecology, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA.
12 Fisheries Centre, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6T 1Z4.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: bworm{at}dal.ca

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)