The importance of coral reef systems to coastal fishery resources in the Philippines has become a focal point in certain government planning and research activities. Estimates of the contribution of reefs to the total fisheries production are based on 3 factors: reef area, maximum sustainable yield and total fisheries production. A method forthe gauging of coral reef production is presented.
This guide was developed to document the process and activities that WorldFish staff have used and adapted as facilitators working with communities interested in marine resource management in Solomon Islands. It draws on the experiences from work conducted with FSPI and MFMR through ACIAR funded projects, with communities that had a primary interest in the management of coral reef fisheries. Since 2011 the process has been trialed and adapted further with communities interested in mangrove ecosystem management (through the MESCAL project).
Worldwide, there are many substantial coastal aquaculture and stock enhancement operations based on collection of wild juveniles. These include: growout of shrimp (Penaeidae), milkfish (Chanos chanos), eels (Anguilla spp.), yellowtail (Seriola quinqueradiata), southern bluefin tuna (Thunnus maccoyii), edible oysters (Ostreidae) and mussels (Mytilidae); stock enhancement of scallops (Pectinidae); and the culture of pearls in farmed blacklip pearl oysters (Pinctada margaritifera). The growout of wild puerulus larvae of spiny lobsters (Palinuridae) is also developing rapidly.
A compilation of 48 estimates of Caribbean and Pacific coral reef fish catches, ranging from 0.1 to 23.7 t km super(-2) year super(-1), obtained from coral reef areas ranging from 0.1 to nearly 4-10 super(5) km super(2), are used to show that observed catches, and hence potential yield estimates, depend strongly on the reference area. The implications for coral reef fisheries assessments are discussed.
Interest in alternative ways to catch fish (particularly very young fish) for the marine aquarium trade is growing steadily. The WorldFish Center (formerly ICLARM) in Solomon Islands has been investigating the feasibility of a new artisanal fishery based on the capture and culture of presettlement coral reef fishes3 targeted by the live fish trades. Our major motivation has been to find alternative sustainable livelihoods for impoverished coastal communities in the Pacific and Asian regions (Bell et al. 1999).
An examination is made of the effects of the eruption of Mount Pinatubo on Luzon Island, northwestern Philippines in June 1991 on the Country's fisheries, considering in particular the coral reef environment, inland fisheries and aquaculture.
In addition to their unique biological characteristics, coral reef fisheries have a feature which separates them from all other marine systems; the presence of coral outcrops makes the use of trawls and other modern industrial fishing gear types unfeasible. Coral reef systems are, therefore, the domain of the small-scale. fisher. The sheltered waters created by the coral reef systems, combined with the high productivity.of the system, have been an inducement to human settlement.
Length-weight relationships of 335 species of fish of New Caledonia, belonging to 65 families of coral reef fishes, were computed (80%) or assembled from the literature (20% of all cases) to facilitate, among other things, estimation of coral reef fish biomass from visual census.
Length-weight relationships of 316 reef and lagoon fish from New Caledonia (SW Pacific Ocean) belonging to 68 families are computed. A total of 43,750 individuals was used for this purpose. Fish were sampled by different techniques such as rotenone poisoning, handline and bottom longline fishing, gill and trammel nets, and trawling in various isotopes (coral reefs, lagoon bottoms and mangroves).
Growth parameters and mortality rates were estimated from length-frequency data sampled in 1982, using the FiSAT software, for three coral reef fish species, the surgeon fish (Ctenochaetus striatus), the damselfish (Stegastes nigricans) and the squirrel fish (Sargocentron microstoma) in Tiahura Reef, Moorea Island, French Polynesia.
