Patterns in artisanal coral reef fisheries reveal best practices for monitoring and management

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1 Fisheries Ecology Research Laboratory, Department of Biology, University of Hawai‘i, Honolulu, Hawai‘i, United States of America
2 Delaney Aquatic Consulting LLC, Honolulu, Hawai‘i, United States of America
3 Center for Oceans, Conservation International, Honolulu, Hawai‘i, United States of America
4 Department of Environment and Agriculture, Curtin University, Perth, Australia
5 Division of Aquatic Resources (DAR), Department of Land and Natural Resources, Honolulu, Hawai‘i, United States of America
6 Pristine Seas, National Geographic Society, Washington, DC, United States of America
7 Center for Biodiversity Outcomes, Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, United States of America
DOI
10.7287/peerj.preprints.3076v1
Published
Accepted
Subject Areas
Aquaculture, Fisheries and Fish Science, Conservation Biology, Ecology, Marine Biology, Natural Resource Management
Keywords
catch-per-unit-effort, Coral reef fisheries, Hawai‘i, creel surveys, community-based fisheries
Copyright
© 2017 Delaney et al.
Licence
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, reproduction and adaptation in any medium and for any purpose provided that it is properly attributed. For attribution, the original author(s), title, publication source (PeerJ Preprints) and either DOI or URL of the article must be cited.
Cite this article
Delaney DG, Teneva LT, Stamoulis KA, Giddens JL, Koike H, Ogawa T, Friedlander AM, Kittinger JN. 2017. Patterns in artisanal coral reef fisheries reveal best practices for monitoring and management. PeerJ Preprints 5:e3076v1

Abstract

Sustainable fisheries management is key to restoring and maintaining ecological function and benefits to people, but it requires accurate information about patterns in resource use, particularly fishing pressure. In most coral reef fisheries and other data-poor contexts, obtaining such information is challenging and remains an impediment to effective management. We developed the most comprehensive regional view of shore-based fishing effort and catch for the Hawaiian Islands to show detailed fishing patterns from across the main Hawaiian Islands (MHI). We reveal these regional patterns through fisher “creel” surveys conducted through collaborative efforts by local communities, state agencies, academics, and environmental organizations, at 18 sites and comprising >10,000 hr of monitoring across a range of habitats and human influences throughout the MHI. Here, we document spatial patterns in nearshore fisheries catch, effort, catch rates (i.e., catch-per-unit-effort [CPUE]), and catch disposition (i.e., use of fish after catch is landed). Line fishing was consistently the most commonly employed gear type (94%), followed by net fishing. The most efficient gear types (i.e., higher CPUE) were spear (0.64 kg hr-1), followed closely by net (0.61 kg hr-1), with CPUE for line (0.16 kg hr-1) 3.9 times lower than spear and 3.7 times lower than net. Creel surveys also reveal rampant illegal fishing activity across the studied locations. Surprisingly, overall, most of the catch was not sold, but rather retained for home consumption or given away to extended family, which indicates that cultural and food security may be stronger drivers of fishing effort than commercial exploitation for nearshore coral reef fisheries in Hawai‘i. Increased monitoring of spatial patterns in nearshore fisheries can inform targeted management, in order to maintain these fisheries for local communities’ food security, cultural, and ecological value.

Author Comment

This is a submission to PeerJ for review.

Supplemental Information

S1 Appendix

Source information for effort, catch and catch-per-unit-effort (CPUE) estimates

DOI: 10.7287/peerj.preprints.3076v1/supp-1