A paper recently published in the scientific journal PLOS One shows the positive impact a marine reserve can have on a country. Two years ago the island nation of Palau established a marine reserve the size of California, 193,000 square miles, in its waters. No fishing or mining is allowed in the reserve.

Enric Sala had this to say about the study: “What we measured confirmed that no-take marine reserves help increase the biomass of fish, as we’ve seen in other areas around the world”

Palau has no military with which to enforce the rules of the marine reserve, but instead has relied on the ancient tradition of Bul, where the Council of Chiefs name certain reefs off limits to fishing.

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