Data-limited approaches to coral reef fishery management
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2024
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Abstract
Coral reef fisheries provide vital sustenance and employment to hundreds of millions of humans across small coastal communities. Due to the relatively low value of individual reef fisheries and large number of species caught, common management approaches designed for large-scale fisheries are rarely applicable to reef fisheries. As a result, reef fisheries are consistently data-limited and most lack any form of management. Meta-analyses indicate that the majority of reef fisheries are overfished, so we must identify cost-effective surveys, assessments, and control rules that are appropriate for these diverse fisheries. This research employs a simulation approach with a novel reef fishery model to evaluate the expected performance of a range of management approaches, each employing length-based assessment and minimum size limits. First, three survey types to collect length data are compared, revealing that even low-cost surveys can provide the information for management to dramatically improve the population health and catch of a common target species. Next, the model is expanded to include over 100 species of varying life history. Management still performs well at the fishery level, but species-level recovery depends on data availability and permanent closures are required to sustain rare species. Finally, temporary species closures are evaluated as a simpler control rule that is well-received by fishers. These closures perform only marginally worse at the fishery level than size limits, providing a compelling option for most species. Taken together, these investigations identify promising management approaches for reef fisheries. Real-world applications should focus on efficient methods to collect large quantities of length data, and partner directly with communities to integrate multiple control rules to effectively manage the large number of reef species with a minimum of complex restrictions.
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Wildlife management, Coral reef, Data-limited, Fishery management, Fishery survey, Small-scale fishery, Stock assessment
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125 pages
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