Burton, M. L., Munoz, R. C., Taylor, J. C.

Assessing reef fish population recovery, SPAGs (spawning and aggregation sites), and lionfish impacts on prey and predator communities in the Tortugas South Ecological Reserve

2014

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Annual Progress Report, Year 2

"This project is providing much needed scientific evidence that even severely exploited species, once protected from excessive fishing pressure, may indeed recover. The documentation of mutton snapper spawning aggregation reformation after years of heavy overexploitation should further justify and advance the use of marine protected areas as a viable management tool to protect both coral reef fishes and coral reef habitat. Documentation of the recovery of exploited species once they are protected from fishing benefits coral reef ecosystems (reef fish populations plus the coral reef habitat they use) by showing the effectiveness and utility of using MPAs as a management tool to protect these ecosystem components. Documentation of the effectiveness of MPAs in recovering exploited fish populations is of great relevance to the fisheries management community (South Atlantic Fishery Management Council, Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council) as well as to the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. Findings will be presented to the Fishery Management Councils in the form on non-technical summary reports. These results will be shared with the Caribbean Fishery Management Council, as well as the territorial fishery management agencies where spawning aggregation management is an important issue. This project will also supply valuable information to managers about the effect of predation by an invasive species, the lionfish, on native juvenile reef fish populations. We also hope to provide results on the potential for healthy adult reef fish populations, such as those found in a protected reserve area like Rileys Hump, to act as a natural control on invasive populations of lionfish, as compared with the greater Florida Reef Tract, where the number of upper trophic level predators is greatly reduced due to exploitation."

FY2013 CRCP Project ID 453; Project Title: Assessing Reef Fish Population Recovery, SPAGs and Lionfish Impacts on Prey and Predator Communities in the TER; Principal Investigator: Michael L. Burton