Tradeoffs between fisheries harvest and the resilience of coral reefs.

Many countries are legally obliged to embrace ecosystem-based approaches to fisheries management. Reductions in bycatch and physical habitat damage are now commonplace, but mitigating more sophisticated impacts associated with the ecological functions of target fisheries species are in their infancy. Here we model the impacts of a parrotfish fishery on the future state and resilience of Caribbean coral reefs, enabling us to view the tradeoff between harvest and ecosystem health.

Constancy and change in coral reef habitats along depth gradients at Curaçao.

The cover of the main components of the substratum, their spatial relations as well as mortality of the most important living component (Scleractinia) were studied at the leeward reef of Curaçao, Netherlands Antilles. We used a point intercept method to analyse cover as well as change in spatial arrangement in sets of photographs of the same 12 quadrats (3mx3m) taken in 1973 and 1978. Four quadrats were situated, along each of three transects, on the reef slope at depth of 10, 20, 30 and 40 m.