This is scientific American 60 second science. I'm Cynthia Graber. Got a minute?

Crop rotation is a recognized way to keep soil and the food ecosystem healthy.

Now scientists are saying that rotation could be a

useful tool in the sea. Researchers track the shallow water near-shore species used for

food, sea cucumbers. They're easy to harvest and are fairly valuable, but those same attributes mean they're easy to overharvest.

The practice has put some sea cucumber species at high risk of extinction, even in a relatively well-managed area, the Great Barrier Marine Park in Australia.

In 2004, authorities split the Great Barrier Reef into 154 zones, where each zone was fished

only once every three years.

Fishers rotate through the region.

In computer models, the researchers

ran through dozens of simulations of each zone,

both before and after the divisions took place.

The trials revealed that even with an identical and low-catch allowance in all cases, the sea The C cucumbers would recover more fully under the rotation strategy

than by harvesting simultaneously throughout the region. In fact in trials

that included rotations the yield actually increased.

The research is in the proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The scientists say their results suggest that such rotation might be beneficial in these kinds of shallow marine regions

around the world, particularly for species that are in high demand, because you should

not eat your seed corn or your seed-cucumbers.

Thanks for the minute.

For Scientific American 60 Second Science, I'm Cynthia Graber.