A marine conservation authority is designing a long-term management strategy to restore biodiversity and ecological stability to a coastal bay degraded by intensive commercial fishing. Which of the following actions is most likely to achieve a sustained increase in the biodiversity of this marine ecosystem?
Introducing a fast-reproducing, non-native predatory fish species to regulate native herbivore populations.
Mechanically harvesting canopy-forming kelp forests to increase light penetration to sand-dwelling benthic communities.
Establishing a fully-protected Marine Protected Area (MPA) coupled with the installation of complex artificial reefs.
Systematically removing native apex predators to prevent them from preying on commercially valuable secondary consumers.