Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Fish and fisher behaviour influence the vulnerability of groupers (Epinephelidae) to fishing at a multispecies spawning aggregation site

  • Highlighted Report
  • Published:
Coral Reefs Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Targeted fishing of spawning aggregations is a major contributor to extinction risk in numerous species of grouper (Epinephelidae). Marine reserves are often used to protect spawning aggregation sites, including multispecies sites shared by several species of grouper. However, marine reserves may be biologically, socioeconomically or culturally unviable in some fisheries, and alternative management actions must be explored. Implementing effective management actions that control rather than prohibit fishing requires an improved understanding of how species vary in their vulnerability to fishing gears and respond to changes in fishing effort. To estimate sources of variability in vulnerability to fishing (i.e. catchability), catch-per-unit-effort (CPUE) and other fisheries data were collected in parallel with underwater visual census-derived estimates of aggregation size at a multispecies spawning site of Epinephelus fuscoguttatus and E. polyphekadion. Despite having similar abundances, E. polyphekadion was eightfold more vulnerable to capture by hook-and-line gear, clearly outcompeting its congener for bait. Contrasting with the common assumption of a proportional relationship, the CPUE of both species was unrelated to the size of their respective aggregations. Moreover, the CPUE of each species was unrelated to hook size and depth fished. However, E. polyphekadion CPUE declined as the density of fishing effort increased at the site, with gear saturation identified as the likely mechanism for this effect. E. fuscoguttatus CPUE was negatively related to the size of aggregations formed by its congener, stemming from the superior competitiveness and therefore higher selectivity of the gear for E. polyphekadion. Our findings demonstrate that CPUE is an unreliable indicator of spawning aggregation status. The other sources of variation in CPUE that we identify have implications for gear-based management, which must be based on understanding of gear selectivity for aggregating species, and fishing effort controls, which must consider the potential for effort-dependent patterns in catchability.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

References

  • Arreguín-Sánchez F (1996) Catchability: a key parameter for fish stock assessment. Rev Fish Biol Fish 6:221–242

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bijoux J, Dagorn L, Cowley PD, Simier M, Adam P-A, Robinson J (2013) Spawning aggregation dynamics of brown-marbled Epinephelus fuscoguttatus and camouflage grouper Epinephelus polyphekadion at a remote Indian Ocean atoll. Endang Species Res 22:145–157

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burnham KP, Anderson DR (2004) Multimodel inference: understanding AIC and BIC in model selection. Sociological Meth Res 33:261–304

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cinner J (2014) Coral reef livelihoods. Curr Opin Environ Sustain 7:65–71

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cinner JE, Folke C, Daw T, Hicks CC (2011) Responding to change: using scenarios to understand how socioeconomic factors may influence amplifying or dampening exploitation feedbacks among Tanzanian fishers. Global Environ Change 21:7–12

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Claro R, Sadovy de Mitcheson Y, Lindeman KC, García-Cagide AR (2009) Historical analysis of Cuban commercial fishing effort and the effects on management interventions on important reef fishes from 1960–2005. Fish Res 99:7–16

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Colin PL, Sadovy YJ, Domeier ML (2003) Manual for the study and conservation of reef fish spawning aggregations. Society for the Conservation of Reef Fish Aggregations, Special Publication No. 1 (Version 1.0), pp 1–99

  • Dean MJ, Hoffman WS, Armstrong MP (2012) Disruption of an Atlantic Cod spawning aggregation resulting from the opening of a directed gill-net fishery. North Am J Fish Manage 32:124–134

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Erisman BE, Allen LG, Claisse JT, Pondella DJ II, Miller EF, Murray JH (2011) The illusion of plenty: hyperstability masks collapses in two recreational fisheries that target fish spawning aggregations. Can J Fish Aquat Sci 68:1705–1716

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fernö A, Solemdal P, Tilseth S (1986) Field studies on the behaviour of whiting (Gadus melangus L.) towards baited hooks. Fiskeridir Skr Ser Havunders 18:83–95

    Google Scholar 

  • Gillis DM, Peterman RM (1998) Implications of interference among fishing vessels and the ideal free distribution to the interpretation of CPUE. Can J Fish Aquat Sci 55:37–46

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Godø OR, Huse I, Michalsen K (1997) Bait defence behaviour of wolffish and its impact on long-line catch rates. ICES J Mar Sci 54:272–275

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Graham RT, Carcamo R, Rhodes KL, Roberts CM, Requena N (2008) Historical and contemporary evidence of a mutton snapper (Lutjanus analis Cuvier, 1828) spawning aggregation fishery in decline. Coral Reefs 27:311–319

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Groeneveld JC, Butterworth DS, Glazer JP, Branch GM, Cockcroft AC (2003) An experimental assessment of the impact of gear saturation on an abundance index for an exploited rock lobster resource. Fish Res 65:453–465

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grüss A, Kaplan DM, Robinson J (2014a) Evaluation of the effectiveness of marine reserves for transient spawning aggregations in data-limited situations. ICES J Mar Sci 71:435–449

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grüss A, Robinson J, Heppell SS, Heppell SA, Semmens BX (2014b) Conservation and fisheries effects of spawning aggregation marine protected areas: what we know, where we should go, and what we need to get there. ICES J Mar Sci 71:1515–1534

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hamilton RJ, Potuku T, Montambault JR (2011) Community-based conservation results in the recovery of reef fish spawning aggregations in the Coral Triangle. Biol Conserv 144:1850–1858

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hamilton RJ, Giningele M, Aswani S, Ecochard JL (2012) Fishing in the dark – local knowledge, night spearfishing and spawning aggregations in the Western Solomon Islands. Biol Conserv 145:246–257

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harley SJ, Myers RA, Dunn A (2001) Is catch-per-unit-effort proportional to abundance? Can J Fish Aquat Sci 40:1556–1567

    Google Scholar 

  • Heyman WD, Kjerfve B (2008) Characterization of transient multi-species reef fish spawning aggregations at Gladden Spit, Belize. Bull Mar Sci 83:531–551

    Google Scholar 

  • Mangubhai S, Saleh M, Suprayitno, Muljadi A, Purwanto, Rhodes KL, Tjandra K (2011) Do not stop: the importance of seamless monitoring and enforcement in an Indonesian marine protected area. J Mar Biol Article ID 501465 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/jmb/aip/501465/

  • Nemeth RS (2012) Ecosystem aspects of species that aggregate to spawn. In: Sadovy de Mitcheson Y, Colin P (eds) Reef fish spawning aggregations: biology, research and management. Fish Fish Ser Vol 35. Springer, London, pp 21–55

  • Quinn TJII, Deriso RB (1999) Quantitative fish dynamics. Oxford University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Rhodes KL, Sadovy Y (2002) Temporal and spatial trends in spawning aggregations of camouflage grouper, Epinephelus polyphekadion (Bleeker 1849) in Pohnpei, Micronesia. Environ Biol Fish 63:27–39

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rhodes KL, Tupper MH (2007) A preliminary market-based analysis of the Pohnpei, Micronesia, grouper (Serranidae: Epinephelinae) fishery reveals unsustainable fishing practices. Coral Reefs 26:335–344

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rhodes KL, Taylor BM, McIlwain JL (2011) Detailed demographic analysis of an Epinephelus polyphekadion spawning aggregation and fishery. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 421:183–198

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rhodes KL, Nemeth RS, Kadison E, Joseph E (2014) Spatial, temporal, and environmental dynamics of a multi-species epinephelid spawning aggregation in Pohnpei, Micronesia. Coral Reefs 33:765–775

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ricker WE (1940) Relation of “catch per unit effort” to abundance and rate of exploitation. J Fish Res Board Can 5:43–70

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Robinson J, Aumeeruddy R, Jörgensen TL, Őhman MC (2008) Dynamics of camouflage (Epinephelus polyphekadion) and brown marbled grouper (Epinephelus fuscoguttatus) spawning aggregations at a remote reef site, Seychelles. Bull Mar Sci 83:415–431

    Google Scholar 

  • Rose GA, Kulka DW (1999) Hyperaggregation of fish and fisheries: how catch-per-unit-effort increased as the northern cod (Gadus morhua) declined. Can J Fish Aquat Sci 56:118–127

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sadovy YJ (2005) Troubled times for trysting trio: three aggregating groupers in the live reef food-fish trade. SPC Live Reef Fish Inform Bull 14:3–6

    Google Scholar 

  • Sadovy Y, Domeier M (2005) Are aggregation-fisheries sustainable? Reef fish fisheries as a case study. Coral Reefs 24:254–262

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sadovy de Mitcheson Y, Erisman B (2012) Fishery and biological implications of fishing spawning aggregations, and the social and economic importance of aggregating fishes. In: Sadovy de Mitcheson Y, Colin P (eds) Reef fish spawning aggregations: biology, research and management. Fish Fish Ser Vol 35. Springer, London, pp 225–284

  • Sadovy de Mitcheson Y, Cornish A, Domeier M, Colin PL, Russell M, Lindeman KC (2008) A global baseline for spawning aggregations of reef fishes. Conserv Biol 22:1233–1244

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sadovy de Mitcheson Y, Craig MT, Bertoncini AA, Carpenter KE, Cheung WWL, Choat JH, Cornish AS, Fennessey ST, Ferreira BP, Heemstra PC, Liu M, Myers RF, Pollard DA, Rhodes KL, Rocha LA, Russell BC, Samoilys MA, Sanciangco J (2013) Fishing groupers towards extinction: a global assessment of threats and extinction risks in a billion dollar fishery. Fish Fish 14:119–136

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Samoilys MA (1997) Periodicity of spawning aggregations of coral trout (Plectropomus leopardus) on the Great Barrier Reef. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 160:149–159

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stoner AW (2004) Effects of environmental variables on fish feeding ecology: implications for the performance of baited fishing gear and stock assessment. J Fish Biol 65:1445–1471

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • van Oostenbrugge HJAE, Powell JP, Smit JPG, Poos J, Kraak SBM, Buisman EFC (2008) Linking catchability and fisher behaviour under effort management. Aquat Living Resour 21:265–273

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wilberg MJ, Thorson JT, Linton BC, Berkson J (2010) Incorporating time-varying catchability into population dynamic stock assessment models. Rev Fish Sci 18:7–24

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Worm B, Branch TA (2012) The future of fish. Trends Ecol Evol 27:594–599

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We thank all the fishers and community leaders who supported our work at the study site. We are grateful to Richard Hamilton of The Nature Conservancy (TNC) for assisting with study planning and facilitating access to the site. Tapas Potuku (TNC) and Lawrence Litau are thanked for their field and logistical support. Thanks to Jeff Kinch of the National Fisheries College, Kavieng, for important liaison work with the local communities at the study site. This study was funded by the Australian Research Council (www.coralcoe.org.au). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish and preparation of the manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Australian Research Council (ARC) Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD, 4811, Australia

    J. Robinson, N. A. J. Graham, J. E. Cinner, G. R. Almany & P. Waldie

  2. CRIOBE–USR 3278, CNRS–EPHE–UPVD, 58 Avenue Paul Alduy, 66860, Perpignan Cedex, France

    G. R. Almany

  3. Laboratoire d’Excellence “CORAIL”, Perpignan, France

    G. R. Almany

Authors
  1. J. Robinson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. N. A. J. Graham
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. J. E. Cinner
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. G. R. Almany
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. P. Waldie
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to J. Robinson.

Additional information

Communicated by Handling Editor Alastair Harborne

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary material 1 (DOCX 126 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Robinson, J., Graham, N.A.J., Cinner, J.E. et al. Fish and fisher behaviour influence the vulnerability of groupers (Epinephelidae) to fishing at a multispecies spawning aggregation site. Coral Reefs 34, 371–382 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-014-1243-1

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-014-1243-1

Keywords

Search

Navigation