Effects of fishing on reef fish communities at Pedro Bank and Port Royal Cays, Jamaica

Abstract

The authors examined the results of a natural "experiment" to determine the effects of fishing on Caribbean reef fish communities. They repeated a trap survey in 1986 of reef fish populations at exposed, offshore sites on southeast (SE) and southwest (SW) Pedro Bank and protected, nearshore sites around the Port Royal Cays (PRC), Jamaica. Overall catch rates declined significantly in heavily exploited areas - 82% over SE Pedro Bank and 33% around PRC - but did not decline over SW Pedro Bank. The largest fishes commonly caught in the traps (lutjanids and large serranids and scarids), families particularly vulnerable to trap fishing (acanthurids and balistids), and other commercially preferred species groups (small serranids, haemulids, mullids) declined most consistently. Similar changes in 2 different reef environments (SE Pedro Bank and PRC) suggest that quantitative relationships of catch rate and composition with fishing effort may be useful in fishery management.