New Paper: Population biology and vulnerability to fishing of deep-water Eteline snappers

A new paper involving Environment Institute members Kim Loeun (also ADECAL), Camille Mellin (also Australian Institute of Marine Science) and Corey Bradshaw (also SARDI), as well as A.J Williams (Oceanic Fisheries Programme), S.J Nicol (Oceanic Fisheries Programme), P. Chavance (ADECAL), M. Ducrocq (ADECAL), S.J Harley (Oceanic Fisheries Programme), G.M Pilling (Oceanic Fisheries Programme) and V. Allain (Oceanic Fisheries Programme) has recently been published in the Journal of Applied Ichthyology.

The paper titled ‘Population biology and vulnerability to fishing of deep-water Eteline snappers’ looks into the concern from fisheries about the sustainability of current fishing rates of deep-water fish in the tropical and sub-tropical Pacific Ocean.

Currently, significant assessments of deep-water stocks in the Pacific region have been limited by the lack of suitable biological and fisheries data. However, estimates are provided of age-based demographic parameters for two important deep-water snapper species in the Pacific, Etelis carbunculus and E. coruscans. The study applied a spawner biomass-per-recruit (SPR) model to determine fishing mortality rates for each species that would achieve specified biological targets and limit reference points, and examine the sensitivity of the model to variation in natural mortality and age at first capture. The SPR analysis demonstrated that lower rates of fishing mortality were required for the E. coruscans species than for the E. carbunculus species to maintain spawning biomass above estimated biological reference points. The results showed that estimates of SPR were more sensitive to variation in natural mortality than in the age at first capture, suggesting that regulating fishing mortality rather than gear selectivity would be a more effective management measure for both species.

Read the paper to find out more about this research.

New Paper: Effects of Marine Reserves versus Nursery Habitat Availability on Structure of Reef Fish Communities

A new paper involving Environment Institute member Ivan Nagelkerken, as well as Monique Grol (from the Radboud University Nijmegen, the Netherlands) and Peter Mumby (from the University of Queensland) has recently been published in the journal PLoS ONE.

Dr Ivan Nagelkerken, lead author on the paper.

The paper, titled ‘Effects of Marine Reserves versus Nursery Habitat Availability on Structure of Reef Fish Communities’, tested the individual as well as interactive effects of protection from fishing in marine reserves and of presence of mangrove nursery habitats on the composition and biomass of reef fish communities. The study shows that reefs in fished areas close to mangrove nurseries had a 2.5-fold higher standing stock of subadult fish than protected reefs that were spatially isolated from nurseries. These results have a large management implication as they show that protection of various economically and ecologically important reef fish species relies on incorporating and sustaining cross-ecosystem connectivity in the design of marine protected areas.

Read and download the paper to find out more and read about the findings.

Hugh Possingham on Marine Parks

Professor Hugh Possingham is in Adelaide today to advise SA Parliament on Marine Parks. Listen to a brief audio bite of Hugh on the importance and benefits of Marine Parks for South Australia here. For more about the science and benefits Marine Parks provide for the environment and society, head to Conservationbytes.com where Corey Bradshaw and Hugh discuss this issue in more detail.

Adelaide born and bred, Hugh Possingham studied at the University of Adelaide before becoming a Rhode Scholar. Now based at the University of Queensland,  he is the Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Environmental Decisions. Hugh visited Adelaide last year when he presented “Why monitor the environment” to a full house.