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    Marine reserves: the best strategy for maximizing reproductive biomass in a heavily targeted reef fish

    191200_79807_22988_Taylor_et_al_2012.pdf (1.480Mb)
    Access Status
    Open access
    Authors
    Taylor, B.
    McIlwain, Jennifer
    Kerr, A.
    Date
    2012
    Type
    Journal Article
    
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    Citation
    Taylor, Brett M. and McIlwain, Jennifer L. and Kerr, Alexander M. 2012. Marine Reserves and Reproductive Biomass: A Case Study of a Heavily Targeted Reef Fish. PLoSONE, 7 (6): Article ID e39599.
    Source Title
    PLoS ONE
    DOI
    10.1371/journal.pone.0039599
    ISSN
    19326203
    Remarks

    This open access article is distributed under the Creative Commons license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

    URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/19074
    Collection
    • Curtin Research Publications
    Abstract

    Recruitment overfishing (the reduction of a spawning stock past a point at which the stock can no longer replenish itself) is a common problem which can lead to a rapid and irreversible fishery collapse. Averting this disaster requires maintaining a sufficient spawning population to buffer stochastic fluctuations in recruitment of heavily harvested stocks. Optimal strategies for managing spawner biomass are well developed for temperate systems, yet remain uncertain for tropicalfisheries, where the danger of collapse from recruitment overfishing looms largest. In this study, we explored empirically and through modeling, the role of marine reserves in maximizing spawner biomass of a heavily exploited reef fish, Lethrinus harak around Guam, Micronesia. On average, spawner biomass was 16 times higher inside the reserves compared with adjacent fished sites. Adult density and habitat-specific mean fish size were also significantly greater. We used these data in an age-structured population model to explore the effect of several management scenarios on L. harak demography. Under minimum-size limits, unlimited extraction and all rotational-closure scenarios, the model predicts that preferential mortality of larger and older fish prompt dramatic declines in spawner biomass and the proportion of male fish, as well as considerable declines in total abundance. For rotational closures this occurred because of the mismatch between the scales of recovery and extraction. Our results highlight how alternative management scenarios fall short in comparison to marine reserves in preserving reproductively viable fish populations on coral reefs.

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