Fish and Fisheries
Fish and Fisheries
5 years ago

Selectivity matters: Rules of thumb for management of plate-sized, sex-changing fish in the live reef food fish trade

Holly K Kindsvater, Marc Mangel, John D Reynolds, Yvonne Sadovy de Mitcheson
Effective management of fisheries depends on the selectivity of different fishing methods, control of fishing effort and the life history and mating system of the target species. For sex-changing species, it is unclear how the truncation of age-structure or selection of specific size or age classes (by fishing for specific markets) affects population dynamics. We specifically address the consequences of plate-sized selectivity, whereby submature, “plate-sized” fish are preferred in the live reef food fish trade. We use an age-structured model to investigate the decline and recovery of populations fished with three different selectivity scenarios (asymptotic, dome-shaped and plate-sized) applied to two sexual systems (female-first hermaphroditism and gonochorism). We parameterized our model with life-history data from Brown-marbled grouper (Epinephelus fuscoguttatus) and Napoleon fish (Cheilinus undulatus). “Plate-sized” selectivity had the greatest negative effect on population trajectories, assuming accumulated fishing effort across ages was equal, while the relative effect of fishing on biomass was greatest with low natural mortality. Fishing such sex-changing species before maturation decreased egg production (and the spawning potential ratio) in two ways: average individual size decreased and, assuming plasticity, females became males at a smaller size. Somatic growth rate affected biomass if selectivity was based on size at age because in slow growers, a smaller proportion of total biomass was vulnerable to fishing. We recommend fisheries avoid taking individuals near their maturation age, regardless of mating system, unless catch is tightly controlled. We also discuss the implications of fishing post-settlement individuals on population dynamics and offer practical management recommendations.

Publisher URL: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/resolve/doi

DOI: 10.1111/faf.12208

You might also like
Discover & Discuss Important Research

Keeping up-to-date with research can feel impossible, with papers being published faster than you'll ever be able to read them. That's where Researcher comes in: we're simplifying discovery and making important discussions happen. With over 19,000 sources, including peer-reviewed journals, preprints, blogs, universities, podcasts and Live events across 10 research areas, you'll never miss what's important to you. It's like social media, but better. Oh, and we should mention - it's free.

  • Download from Google Play
  • Download from App Store
  • Download from AppInChina

Researcher displays publicly available abstracts and doesn’t host any full article content. If the content is open access, we will direct clicks from the abstracts to the publisher website and display the PDF copy on our platform. Clicks to view the full text will be directed to the publisher website, where only users with subscriptions or access through their institution are able to view the full article.