Pearse Alan R, Hamilton Richard J, Choat John Howard, Pita John, Almany Glenn, Peterson Nate, Hamilton Grant S, Peterson Erin E
ARC Centre of Excellence for Mathematical and Statistical Frontiers (ACEMS) Queensland University of Technology Brisbane QLD Australia.
The Nature Conservancy Asia Pacific Resource Centre South Brisbane QLD Australia.
Ecol Evol. 2018 Sep 12;8(20):10247-10256. doi: 10.1002/ece3.4501. eCollection 2018 Oct.
The humphead wrasse () and bumphead parrotfish () are two of the largest, most iconic fishes of Indo-Pacific coral reefs. Both species form prized components of subsistence and commercial fisheries and are vulnerable to overfishing. is listed as Endangered and as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. We investigated how night spearfishing pressure and habitat associations affected both species in a relatively lightly exploited setting; the Kia fishing grounds, Isabel Province, Solomon Islands. We used fisheries-independent data from underwater visual census surveys and negative binomial models to estimate abundances of adult and as a function of spearfishing pressure and reef strata. Our results showed that, in Kia, night spearfishing pressure from free divers had no measurable effect on abundances, but abundances of were 3.6 times lower in areas of high spearfishing pressure, after accounting for natural variations due to habitat preferences. It is likely the species' different nocturnal aggregation behaviors, combined with the fishers' use of night spearfishing by spot-checking underpin these species' varying susceptibility. Our study highlights that is extremely susceptible to night spearfishing; however, we do not intend to draw conservation attention away from . Our data relate only to the Kia fishing grounds, where human population density is low, the spot-checking strategy is effective for reliably spearing large numbers of fish, particularly , and fisheries have only recently begun to be commercialized; such conditions are increasingly rare. Instead, we recommend that regional managers assess the state of their fisheries and the dynamics affecting the vulnerability of the fishes to fishing pressure based on local-scale, fisheries-independent data, where resources permit.
波纹唇鱼（）和驼头鹦嘴鱼（）是印度 - 太平洋珊瑚礁中体型最大、最具代表性的两种鱼类。这两个物种都是自给性渔业和商业渔业中备受珍视的组成部分，并且容易受到过度捕捞的影响。波纹唇鱼在世界自然保护联盟濒危物种红色名录中被列为濒危物种，驼头鹦嘴鱼被列为易危物种。我们在一个开发程度相对较低的地区——所罗门群岛伊莎贝尔省的基亚渔场，调查了夜间潜水捕鱼压力和栖息地关联如何影响这两个物种。我们使用来自水下视觉普查的独立于渔业的数据和负二项式模型，来估计成年波纹唇鱼和驼头鹦嘴鱼的数量，将其作为捕鱼压力和珊瑚礁地层的函数。我们的结果表明，在基亚，自由潜水者的夜间捕鱼压力对波纹唇鱼数量没有可测量的影响，但在考虑到因栖息地偏好导致的自然变化后，在捕鱼压力高的区域，驼头鹦嘴鱼的数量低3.6倍。可能是这两个物种不同的夜间聚集行为，再加上渔民通过抽查进行夜间捕鱼，导致了这两个物种易受影响程度的差异。我们的研究强调，波纹唇鱼极易受到夜间捕鱼的影响；然而，我们并非有意将保护注意力从驼头鹦嘴鱼上转移开。我们的数据仅与基亚渔场相关，那里人口密度低，抽查策略对于可靠地捕获大量鱼类（尤其是波纹唇鱼）很有效，并且渔业直到最近才开始商业化；这样的条件越来越罕见。相反，我们建议区域管理者在资源允许的情况下，根据当地规模、独立于渔业的数据，评估其渔业状况以及影响鱼类易受捕鱼压力影响程度的动态变化。
