11th ICRS Abstract book - Nova Southeastern University

22.875
Fishing Community Council: Does it work?
Isabel MARQUES DA SILVA* 1,2 , Julie GARNIER 3 , Alison SHAW 4
1 Conservation, Maluane, Pemba, Mozambique, 2 Conservation, Zoological Society of
London, London, United Kingdom, 3 Maluane, Pemba, Mozambique, 4 Zoological Society
of London, London, United Kingdom
In an attempt to decentralise authority and empower local communities to manage their
marine resources, a new decree was proclaimed in Mozambique in 2006, which legalised
a Fishing Community Council or CCP. The CCPs have the right to control access and
manage their resources within 3 nautical miles of their coastline and this provided the
Vamizi community with the legal instrument they needed. Two CCPs have now just been
legalised on Vamizi island and in Olumbe, the main village on the continent which also
uses fishing grounds around Vamizi. In partnership with government, Maluane has
supported the creation and capacity building of the CCPs. In order to develop the CCP
capacity to make sound management decisions, training of some CCP members into basic
reef monitoring was initiated in 2006. Their capacity in monitoring fish catch and
undertaking fish stock assessment will soon be developed. This will also allow for the
community-based monitoring of the effectiveness of management decisions, such as the
newly formed marine sanctuary that both the CCP and Vamizi community have decided
to create around the north-eastern section of the island. A unanimous decision to set aside
a no-fishing area for one year was taken once the community had identified the critical
issues and priorities and agreed on the solutions to solve these issues. Feed-back sessions
on all survey results were conducted with all stakeholders which, combined with an ongoing
awareness programme on sustainable resource use conducted on the island, also
contributed to this process. Logistic problems, in legalising the CCP, difficulties in the
CCP members dealing with financial resources are some of the problems that are slowly
being resolved. One point seems to be achieved: the reduction of the fishermen fishing in
the Vamizi waters.
22.876
Aspects Of The Reproductive Biology Of Two Serranidae Species in The Bahamas:
Epinephelus Guttatus (Red Hind) And Mycteroperca Venenosa (Yellowfin
Grouper)
Nicolle CUSHION* 1 , Melissa COOK 2 , Kathleen SULLIVAN-SEALEY 3
1 Biology, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL, 2 NOAA Fisheries Service, Panama
City, FL, 3 Marine Enviromental Studies Institute, College of The Bahamas, Nassau,
Bahamas
Understanding the reproductive biology of reef fish is critical for managing fisherytargeted
species. Behavioral, ecological and physiological aspects of reproduction need
to be determined to understand how a species may respond fishing pressure and
management initiatives. Groupers and hinds from the family Serranidae are some of the
most heavily-harvested species in the Caribbean, yet many aspects of their reproduction
are undocumented. Additionally, aspects such as spawning seasonality and the size of
sexual maturity often vary for a given species throughout a region, thus population-
specific information is needed. This study documents biological and physiological
aspects of reproduction for Bahamian populations of Epinephelus guttatus (red hind) and
Mycteroperca venenosa (Yellowfin grouper) for the first time. Sex ratios, changes in the
seasonal gonadal development over an annual reproductive cycle and the size of sexual
maturity are described for the species. Female gonads were classified into nine stages of
maturity and males were classified into six stages of maturity based on histological
structures. One major spawning period was found for M. venenosa from February to
April, while only one major spawning month (February) was detected for E. guttatus.
Both species are protogynous hermaphrodites and sex ratios were female-skewed and the
size of sex change was found to be similar to previous studies of the species. These
findings document aspects of reproduction and provide a framework for future studies.
Poster Mini-Symposium 22: Coral Reef Associated Fisheries
22.877
Tide-Related Variation in The Reef Fish Fauna Of Utría National Park (Colombia,
Tropical Eastern Pacific)
Gustavo Adolfo CASTELLANOS-GALINDO* 1,2 , Uwe KRUMME 1 , Alan GIRALDO 2
1 Center for Tropical Marine Ecology (ZMT), Bremen, Germany, 2 Grupo de Investigación en
Ecología Animal, Universidad del Valle, Cali, Colombia
On coasts with strong tides fishes regularly enter and leave the intertidal zone. These
movements lead to mostly unknown changes in the subtidal fish community on short time
scales. To examine the responses of a reef ichthyofauna to water level changes in a macrotidal
area of the Tropical Eastern Pacific, a series of daytime underwater visual census over strip
transects were carried out at different tidal stages (flood, high, ebb and low tide) in the Utria
National Park, Colombia. Surveys took place during the dry season at four rocky reef sites. At
each site, nine permanent 25 x 2 m transects at mid intertidal, low intertidal and subtidal areas
were established (three per zone). Clear patterns of space occupation were observed for the reef
fish families Labridae and Pomacentridae. Halichoeres notospilus (Labridae), and Abudefduf
concolor and A. troschelii (Pomacentridae) used the intertidal zone at flood, high and ebb tide
while the distribution of H. nicholsi and H. chierchiae (Labridae), and Stegastes flavilatus and
Microspathodon dorsalis (Pomacentridae) was restricted to the subtidal area throughout the
tidal cycle. Other reef fishes from the families Balistidae, Chaetodontidae, Haemulidae,
Pomacanthidae, Scaridae, Serranidae and Tetraodontidae occasionally entered rocky intertidal
areas when submerged. Ubiquitous reef species (Carangidae, Kyphosidae, Lutjanidae and
Mugilidae) also used the intertidal zone intensively at flood, high and ebb tide. The small-scale
tidal migrations of reef fishes may play an important role in their life cycle by connecting
adjacent ecosystems and providing temporal refuge from subtidal predators. At the same time,
the tide-related temporal colonization of the intertidal zone by a specific subset of reef fishes
has to be considered in underwater surveys on macrotidal coasts.
22.878
The Contribution And Impact Of Marine Protected Areas Towards Coral in Zanzibar
Island
Salim SAAD 1 , Salim SAAD* 1
1 Department of Fisheries and Marine Resources, Ministry of Agriculture and Natural
Resources, Zanzibar, Tanzania
Marine Protected Areas are increasingly being used to protect biological rich habitats, resolve
user conflict, and help to restore over-exploited stocks and degraded areas (Agardy, 1993). In
recent years the use of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) as method of managing coastal fisheries
has gained popularity, and increasing numbers of MPAs are being established throughout the
World (D. Whitmarsh et al). Tanzania experienced a rapid establishment and expansion of
marine parks and protected areas.
Most of marine protected areas was established for the purpose of conserving marine resources
such as coral reefs, mangroves, dolphins, whales, fishes and sea turtles but at the same time to
encourage tourist to visit within the areas to watch those resources and collecting entrance fees
for the purpose of support community development within the villages which around the
conservation areas. In Zanzibar for example, the number of tourists entering has increased by 35
percent between 1995 and 1999 from a total of 56,415 (1995) to a high of 86,925 (1999).
In Marine Protected Areas, number of tourism has been increased tremendously where in
Chumbe Island Coral Park was from 1080 tourist in 2003 to 1969 tourists in 2006 while in
Menai Bay Conservation Areas was 12,000 in 2003 to 23750 in 2006 where total of US$ 71250
was collected and has been used to conserve the area.
The impact which is facing the protected areas is the number of tourism enter in areas is too
high and occurs in the low tide where some tourist are standing in the coral and break them.
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