Jay Grove

2015

2016

2017

On many coral reefs, including those in the US Caribbean, parrotfishes are both important fishery species that support local economies and key grazers that facilitate the settlement, growth, and survivorship of reef-building corals. Recent fisheries regulations in the US Caribbean and elsewhere have begun to consider the wider ecological role of parrotfishes, yet the ability to manage these fisheries for their impacts on coral reef ecosystems is currently limited. We will develop a framework to quantify the impacts of fisheries on the ecological function provided by the parrotfish assemblage, allowing us to explore the effectiveness of different management strategies (e.g., gear restrictions, size & bag limits, spatial management, etc.) in maintaining adequate parrotfish grazing to positively impact settlement, growth, and survivorship of reef-building corals. We will conduct this work on St. Croix; the largest parrotfish fishery from the US Caribbean is on St. Croix and we can leverage existing datasets on fish populations, fisheries, and coral reef habitat from St. Croix. We will develop recommendations about how specific changes in fishing regulations may affect grazing capacity and ultimately habitat quality for protected corals on St. Croix. Further, the framework that we develop on St. Croix can serve as a model for other locations.The project will proceed in three steps. The first step, to be completed in year one, will be to develop quantitative metrics of total grazing potential of an assemblage of parrotfishes based on species- and size-specific grazing rates and grazing preferences. Field work for stage 1 was completed in 2015 and data analysis is underway. The second step, to be completed in year two, will integrate these grazing metrics with several existing data sets including high-resolution mapping and habitat characterization projects (NOS), ongoing visual surveys in fished and unfished areas (eg. NCRMP & UVI-TCREMP), available fishery dependent information on landings (composition and size frequency; NMFS), and fishing effort – including changes from the gill and trammel net bans (SEFSC). This information will help us characterize spatial and temporal patterns of grazing intensity and quantify the impact of different fishing practices and management actions on total grazing capacity of the parrotfish assemblage. The third and final step, to be completed in year three, will forecast effects of different fisheries management actions (including gear restrictions, size and bag limits, spatial management, and bans on the take of particular species) on the total grazing impact of the parrotfish assemblage using a spatially explicit framework that incorporates current knowledge about the suitability of different reefs and habitat types for protected corals. This project will integrate data from several prior and current CRCP projects and will interface with the NMFS S&T Territorial Science Initiative, Biogeo habitat maps and surveys in Buck Island, and NCRMP surveys.

The outcomes of this project will be useful for U. S. federal government agencies and the territorial government of the U. S. Virgin Islands. The Southeast Regional Office of NOAA Fisheries (NOAA SERO) will benefit directly from the proposed project since these data will help quantify the potential impacts of parrotfish fisheries on critical habitat for ESA-listed corals (see attached letter of support from Dr. William Arnold). The Caribbean Fisheries Management Council (CFMC) and the U. S. Virgin Islands Department of Planning and Natural Resources (USVI DPNR) will benefit from the evaluation of management strategies that can reduce impacts of parrotfish fisheries on coral reef ecosystems in St. Croix. Furthermore, this framework will allow us to evaluate tradeoffs between sustainable fisheries and ecological function, with the goal of maximizing both, which will benefit all of these agencies as well as commercial fishers on St. Croix.

• U.S. Virgin Islands

• St. Croix East End Marine Park
• St. Thomas East End Reserve

Fishing

Closed

Completed

https://www.coris.noaa.gov/search/rest/find/document?searchText=projectNumber%3A30061%20OR%20projectTitle%3A"Impacts%20of%20fishing%20on%20parrotfish%20grazing%20in%20St.%20Croix%20-A%20case%20study%20on%20the%20ecological%20impacts%20of%20fishery%20management%20actions"&start=1&max=10&f=searchPage