Marine reserves 'a success'
Interesting Read, Great barrier Reef. Sounds promising.
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FISH stocks, sharks and dugongs have benefited greatly from protected marine reserves established on the Great Barrier Reef five years ago, a new study shows.
The research found rapid increases in fish and some shark populations inside marine reserves that prohibit fishing.
It also found no-fishing zones were located in areas that threatened species such as dugongs and marine turtles frequent and helped eliminate hazards such as fishing nets.
The study was published in the journal Proceedings of the US National Academy of Sciences.
Lead author Dr Laurence McCook says the number of coral trout doubled in some reserves within two years of banning fishing.
He says red throat empire and red empire numbers were also up.
"The resounding pattern overall is there are more and bigger fish in the protected areas than the fished areas," said Dr McCook, from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies.
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"Bigger fish have more babies and they produce more off-spring.
"The increased reproduction is almost spilling over to the fished areas."
The study found larger, more mobile species, such as sharks, have been slower to recover but grey reef sharks were 30 times more abundant in protected reefs compared with fished reefs.
Dr McCook said there were also increases in white-tipped and black-tipped shark populations.
He said reserves benefit the overall health and resilience of marine ecosystems.
"Outbreaks of coral-eating, crown-of-thorns starfish are less frequent on no-take reefs, which consequently have a higher abundance of healthy corals after outbreaks," Dr McCook said.
The team says there is concern of poaching taking place in some no-take zones.
Dr Josh Cinner, of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, says reserves worked best when there has been a formal consultation processes about the rules, and locals were included in monitoring the reserve.
He said ongoing training to educate locals in the science and policy behind reserves also helped.
"Park agencies need to foster conditions that enable people to work together to protect their local environment voluntarily, rather than focusing purely on regulations and patrols," he said
Faulkner Family
Posts: 18089
Date Joined: 11/03/08
the one prob i can see is
the one prob i can see is with so many of the larger fish in this area there will be a shortage of food for them to eat and also the sharks will end up taking over the areas concerned. dont get me wrong i am all for sanctuaries but there is some downsides . good to hear the crown of thorns have deminished
RUSS and SANDY. A family that fishes together stays together
saltatrix
Posts: 1081
Date Joined: 30/03/08
Do you have a link to where
Do you have a link to where this story came from?
There has been several no-take zones for several years now at Rottnest.
Are they loaded with Dhufish? They must be going off...
Angling tourism is worth $10 billion to the Australian economy - 90000 jobs; more than any sport; spread the word
sunshine
Posts: 2627
Date Joined: 03/03/09
No prob at all
A really healthy reef has so many fish there is food for all including large predators.
For those divers up north I am sure they will confirm that careful harvesting of coral trout from a reef only leads to what you might call ascendancy - remove the large trout and the smaller ones quickly move into the prime spots on the reef previously "held" from a territory perspective by the trout that you took. These prime spots provide perfect ambush points and therefore provide a higher level of food and much more rapid growth rates for the fish that have moved in. Go back a year later and there will be large trout in residence as they have quickly grown.
It was an eye opener this year to dive the deeper reef structure at the northern end of Tremille Island - Monties - utterly alive with fish, huge spanglies, trout and reds and massive cod..............it just shows how productive a reef system can be ........around Rotto though - nah, the reef structure is no where near as dynamic nor does it have the food sources prevalent on tropical reef.
Dived the no take areas at the Abrolhos (northern group) and even there and despite the time they had been no take saw little difference however that is semi tropical / temperate - food for thought though !!!
Any other divers have similar experiences or different views ???
Buz
Posts: 1555
Date Joined: 28/08/07
Dived in and outside the
Dived in and outside the sanctuary zones of all three groups on the Abrolhos.
Definitly will say saw heaps more fish when we dived in the sanctuaries. Eg, Dhuis, Trout, Spangies, Pinkies, Sambos, Macks, etc. In saying that it was only if we dived in certain areas of the sanctuary. I'll say the santuary on the Southern Group by far had the most big nicies out of all of them that we saw.
Interestingly on the northern group there a two massive lumps, one in the sanctuary(called anemone lump) and one across the other side of the channel about 1 km away outside the sanctuary. Dive both lumps on four occasions each. Now when you dive both these lumps the structure and coral looks identical, they are even in the same depth and come up to the same depth.
On the lump outside the Sanctuary we saw two coral trout and one undersized dhui and alround seemed pretty lifeless.
On the lump inside the sanctuary, saw well over 50+ coral trout, most well over legal(spawning aggregation maybe?), had shit loads of BIG pinkies and Baldies swiming around the back of the boat and off the sides of the lump saw about 9 Dhuis all big, big schools of Shark Mackeral and NBTuna.
I guess one could argue that the fish in the sanctuary help to repopulate the surrounding areas. But from what i saw i reckon these fish have figured out its safer in the sanctuary almost as if they know of the invisible line and sit on the edge and laugh at fisherman!
I also metioned that the fish probably feel 'SAFER' because they are not entirely safe in the sanctuary. Our second dive of the lump as we were approaching in our dive boat saw two small fishing boat anchored right on top, lines out and all and even watched them pull up a couple of what looked like spangies/pinkies?. As soon as they figured out we were going to be diving there they were up anchor and out of there in a flash. Skipper radio to fisheries the description and heading of the boat. There was a big fisheries boat in at the time at the north group settlement. Hope they got them.
Havent really had any other experience with sanctuaries, never dived the sanctuaries of Exmouth when i used to go up there.
Bodie
Posts: 3758
Date Joined: 05/11/07
Im sure the more temperate
Im sure the more temperate waters have higher food sources than the cooler southern waters.
Heres something to consider.
When a fresh water dam is over populated with Marron, or yabbies, the average size of the marron is a lot smaller than what you find in less populated areas.
Could this be a similar scenario to reef fish species?
saltatrix
Posts: 1081
Date Joined: 30/03/08
Im sure the more temperate
Im sure the more temperate waters have higher food sources than the cooler southern waters.
Many fish including Snapper definately grow faster in warmer water.
Sanctuary no-take zones work for some fish but not many others. This was found with a study at the Abrolhos.
Id much rather see a higher minimum size where some species get 2 or 3 seasons to breed so if they miss the first, a recruitment may happen the second or 3rd. Plus you end up with more bigger fish.
The upsizing of minimum size limit has made an impact on Red Emperor in Queensland
If people have the dont care about the release, they all die any rate attitude there is the solution fisheries managers love to resort to as a sure thing; exclusion of fishermen as no-take sacntuary zones.
Tagging has shown that if people take a bit of care that mortality is dramatically reduced. Fisheries managers however have to allow for the people who dont give rats who leave dead fish floating behind them as vindication of their own doing.
Angling tourism is worth $10 billion to the Australian economy - 90000 jobs; more than any sport; spread the word
saltatrix
Posts: 1081
Date Joined: 30/03/08
Lower WA loves a big Capes
Lower WA loves a big Capes current with big nutrient upwellings. The Leuween provides little food for Southern species.
Its what makes lower WA so poor in the nutrient stakes and slow growing cold water species which makes thems o vulnerable to over exploitation.
Angling tourism is worth $10 billion to the Australian economy - 90000 jobs; more than any sport; spread the word