There's a new article in PLoS that I write about on the blog today.

The good news: It looks like marine protected areas might be able to slow the decline of corals in addition to their better-known effects of increasing fish populations.

The bad news: MPAs are likely only effective for managing local impacts like overfishing and physical damage from overuse. They are probably ineffective against global changes like climate warming (and attendant coral bleaching), ocean acidification, and disease.