Preliminary results from a study on Tampa Bay suggest that prohibiting recreational fishing in certain areas may have no impact on fish populations.

In fact, a closed area on Tampa Bay was found to have fewer, and smaller, fish than a similar area open to public fishing under Florida state limits.

These important findings call into question the claims of Marine Protected Area advocates, who have been attempting to sell the concept as a panacea for fisheries declines, in everywhere from Dry Tortugas coral reefs to Indian River Lagoon grassflats.

The two-year study began with random seine surveys to assess the relative status of fish communities, and the size and abundance of red drum and common snook. A second phase incorporated fishing catch-and-effort data, and a third, ongoing portion of the study involves tag-recapture research.

A preliminary release from FWRI reveals that researchers found healthy fish populations in both Weedon Island and the MacDill closed area. Also, the accessible Weedon Island area actually had slightly more snook and red drum. What's more, both random sampling and hook-and-line sampling turned up larger snook, on average, in Weedon Island than in MacDill.