11th ICRS Abstract book - Nova Southeastern University

22.863
Marine Protected Areas: Boon And Bane For The Philippine Small-Scale Fisheries?
Martina KELLER* 1,2 , Matthias WOLFF 2,3 , Rizaller C. AMOLO 1
1 Coastal Conservation & Education Foundation (CCEF), Cebu City, Philippines, 2 Center
for Tropical Marine Biology (ZMT), Bremen, Germany, 3 Charles Darwin Research
Station, Quito, Ecuador
Fisheries provide critically important food and income in many developing countries. Yet
overexploitation, habitat degradation and poor or non-existent management mean that
many small-scale, artisanal fisheries are in decline.
The same scenario is true for the Philippines where reef fisheries provide around 25% of
the protein intake of the country.
Management of these fisheries is often inadequate or absent, partly because they are data
poor. Baseline data and new management approaches, particularly those relevant to
developing countries, are urgently needed.
No-take Marine Reserves (MPAs) are advocated widely as a management option for
multi-species tropical fisheries as well as a potential solution to the loss of marine
biodiversity, ecosystem structure and to overfishing, and thus for sustainability.
Tremendous work has been done on the qualitative merits of MPAs. In fact, however, the
quantitative evidence to support MPA efficacy in protecting biodiversity and enhancing
fisheries is highly limited, still allowing scepticism about MPA-benefits to local
communities.
So far only few studies tackle the direct fish population and fisheries response to the
establishment of MPAs. But: Do these fishery yields improve enough to compensate for
the lost fisheries area? What would be the right management approach to consider both
conservation and economic concerns? Underwater visual census, experimental fishing,
fishery and socio-economic surveys are used to meet these questions.
Leadoff surveys show: When people are hungry, their need for food necessarily comes
before their willingness to protect the environment, even in the long run conservation will
provide them with more food. So any attempts to protect the oceans and marine life in the
Philippines must also provide clear and clearly understood benefits, including more fish,
to coastal people.
22.864
First Description Of Post-Settlement Goliath Grouper (Epinephelus Itijara) And
Details Of Early Life History Using Daily Otolith Increment Analysis
Monica LARA* 1 , Jennifer SCHULL 2 , David L JONES 1 , Robert ALLMAN 3
1 CIMAS, University of Miami, Miami, FL, 2 NOAA/SEFC, Miami, FL, 3 NOAA/SEFC,
Panama City, FL
The goliath grouper (Epinephelus itijara) is the largest Atlantic grouper and an important
coral reef top predator. Information about the biology and ecology of this species is
critical as it suffered a rapid decline in abundance since the 1950s and is now listed as
threatened on the “red list” of the IUCN-World Conservation Union although populations
show signs of recovering in the US. It is a species that uses different tropical and
subtropical environments over its lifetime such as mangroves and coral reefs. Amazingly,
little is known about the biology of this fish and the early life stages are virtually
unknown. The early post-settlement and juvenile phases of this important reef fish have
never been described.
Small juvenile goliath grouper were collected from September through December of
2001- 2004 in the Ten Thousand Islands region of southwest Florida’s Gulf coast. These
juveniles ranged in size from 15 mm SL and represent the smallest individuals of this
species collected to date. The smallest individuals are newly settled and lack much
pigment. A description of these juveniles is provided as well as illustrations of juveniles
between 15 and 38 mm SL. Specimens ranging in size from 15 mm to 87 mm SL (n = 51)
were used for otolith studies. The age, age at settlement and days post-settlement were
obtained using otolith increment analysis. Spawning dates, settlement dates and moon
phases of these events were determined. These data present evidence of delayed
metamorphosis in the larvae of this species.
Poster Mini-Symposium 22: Coral Reef Associated Fisheries
22.865
Essential Habitats For Juvenile Groupers in Coastal Waters Of Southern Gulf Of Mexico
Ximena RENAN-GALINDO* 1 , Thierry BRULE 2
1 UMDI-Sisal, Fac. de Ciencias, UNAM, Sisal, Mexico, 2 Recursos del Mar, CINVESTAV-IPN,
Unidad Merida, Merida, Mexico
Essential fish habitats provide juveniles to the most important reef fisheries in the Gulf of
Mexico and Caribbean Sea. The structure of fish communities is enhanced in systems that have
interconnected mangroves, sea grass beds and coral reefs. Many commercially important reef
fish species use these habitats as nursery grounds. Grouper fishery, for example, is one of the
most important economical activities in the Gulf of Mexico. Nevertheless, there is little
information on groupers nursery grounds in the coastal ecosystems of the Southern Gulf of
Mexico. This study aims to identify and characterize essential fish habitats for different juvenile
grouper species, to provide useful scientific information to support management decisions. Five
fishing zones along the Yucatan coast were studied for 18 months during 2000 and 2001 and
three main essential habitats were identified (seagrass beds, rocky reefs and hard-bottom coral
communities). Using different kinds of fishing gear 1,517 juvenile groupers (sexually
immature) belonging to Ephinephelus morio (N= 436), Ephinephelus adscensionis (N= 2),
Ephinephelus striatus (N= 2), Mycteroperca bonaci (N= 139), Mycteroperca microlepis (N=
937) and Mycteroperca interstitialis (N= 1) were captured. Newly settled M. microlepis (SL=
1.5 to 5.2 cm; N= 28) and M. bonaci (SL= 1.8 to 2.7 cm; N= 5) where caught only in seagrass
beds habitats. E. adscensionis, E. striatus, M. interstitialis and large M. bonaci prefer rocky
reefs, E. morio juveniles preferred hard-bottom coral communities, whereas M. microlepis were
associated to seagrass beds. These results could be used as basis to create MPA’s where fishing
restrictions to certain species, areas or gears (such as trawling) could be applied.
22.866
Population Dynamics Of An Artisanally Harvested Giant Clam (Tridacna Maxima)
Annie YAU* 1 , Hunter LENIHAN 1
1
Bren School of Environmental Science & Management, University of California, Santa
Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA
An important challenge in fisheries management is the identification of factors driving and
limiting population growth. Traditional, artisanal fisheries still exist worldwide and are
important food sources for local consumption. Although giant clams (Tridacnidae) are
extensively aquacultured and harvested throughout the Indo-Pacific, surprisingly little is known
about natural population dynamics. In Mo’orea, French Polynesia, a coral reef lagoon
management plan established in 2002 sets a size limit (120 mm) and spatial closures on
artisanal harvest of the giant clam Tridacna maxima. To better understand specific factors
affecting the population dynamics inherent in this managed population, individual clams at 12
different sites were marked and measured in 2006 and re-measured in 2007. An analysis of the
biotic and abiotic factors affecting mortality and growth was performed on this continuing
demographic study of T. maxima in Mo’orea. Preliminary results demonstrate size-dependent
mortality and growth, with smaller clams exhibiting higher relative growth rates and mortality
rates. Multiple regression revealed growth rates do not vary with mantle color, site, height in the
water column, orientation on substrate, or substrate type. However, mortality does vary with
site, height in the water column, and substrate type. Similar mortality patterns inside and
outside reserves suggest that the lagoon management plan is not effective or not being enforced.
The paucity of live legal size clams and the abundance of legal size shells in recent midden piles
suggest that this population of T. maxima is overfished. High mortality and scarcity of large
fecund clams and low recruitment indicate that reproductive input may be limiting population
growth, thus hindering effective fishery management.
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