This article appears in the following ICES Journal of Marine Science issue: European Symposium on Marine Protected Areas as a Tool for Fisheries Management and Ecosystem Conservation [View the issue table of contents]
Considering multiple-species attributes to understand better the effects of successive changes in protection status on a coral reef fish assemblage
1 IRD-UR CoRéUs/EMH Ifremer, BP A5, 98848 Nouméa Cedex, New Caledonia
2 Université de la Nouvelle-Calédonie, LIVE, BP R4, 98851 Nouméa Cedex, New Caledonia
3 Université de la Méditerranée, Centre d'Océanologie de Marseille, UMR CNRS 6540, Campus de Luminy, Case 901, 13288 Marseille Cedex 09, France
4 Aquarium des Lagons, Nouméa, New Caledonia
5 IRD-UR CoRéUs, Université de Perpignan, 52 Avenue Paul Alduy, 66860 Perpignan, France
6 UMR5244 CNRS-EPHE-UPVD, Université de Perpignan, 52 Avenue Paul Alduy, 66860 Perpignan Cedex, France
Correspondence to B. Preuss: tel: +687 260 791; fax: +687 264 326; e-mail: bastien.preuss{at}ird.fr
Preuss, B., Pelletier, D., Wantiez, L., Letourneur, Y., Sarramégna, S., Kulbicki, M., Galzin, R., and Ferraris, J. 2009. Considering multiple-species attributes to understand better the effects of successive changes in protection status on a coral reef fish assemblage. – ICES Journal of Marine Science, 66: 170–179.The response of fish assemblages to changes in protection status is a major issue for both biodiversity conservation and fishery management. In New Caledonia, the Aboré reef marine reserve harbours more than 500 fish species, and has been subjected to changes in protection status since 1988. The present study investigates the impact of these changes on a wide subset of species (213), based on underwater visual counts collected before the opening and after the closure to fishing of this marine protected area (MPA). We analysed the spatial and temporal variability in fish assemblage attributable to protection status, explicitly considering habitat. To understand the successive responses of fish assemblage to fishing and protection, the assessment models included four criteria defining species groups that partition the fish assemblage: trophic regime, adult size, mobility, and interest for fishing. We could therefore identify the negative impact of opening the MPA to fishing on piscivores and highly mobile species. Surprisingly, target species were not affected more than non-target species. Model results were used to identify species groups that respond to fishing and protection. These results utilize fisheries-related criteria to provide new insight into the response of fish assemblages to protection from the perspective of MPA monitoring.
Keywords: assessment model, coral reef ecosystem, fish assemblage, fishing effect, MPA effect
Received 9 September 2007; accepted 6 August 2008.