Rapid Decline of Nassau Grouper Spawning Aggregations in Belize: Fishery Management and Conservation Needs

By E. Sala, E. Ballesteros, R. Starr. 2001

275 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Subfields: Ecology, Global and Planetary Change

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/7dfa8740355f381d47c1e44a60061ec4d2ddf06e

How researchers see this paper

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In Ecology

1. S. Cooke
2. Peter J. Mumby
3. Wwl Cheung
4. C. Suski
5. S. Heppell
6. J. Robinson
7. B. Semmens
8. A. Grüss

In Global and Planetary Change

1. S. Cooke
2. A. Danylchuk
3. C. Suski
4. Wwl Cheung
5. Peter J. Mumby
6. S. Hinch
7. S. Heppell
8. D. Philipp

Citations in the corpus

• Fishing down a Caribbean food web relaxes trophic cascades (2012, background): “Largegrouper abundance was already low in 2002, largely because of an extensive history of exploitation (Sala et al. 2001), but by 2009 it had dropped to a level that was barely measurable using 1200 to 2400 m2 of transects.”
• Valuable but vulnerable: Over-fishing and under-management continue to threaten groupers so what now? (2020, background): “once the most important grouper in the insular Caribbean, was estimated to be worth far more alive than exploited in its spawning aggregations, both because of the tourism value of a spawning aggregation and for the reproductive value from the young produced in aggregations [36].”
• Reef Fish Spawning Aggregations: Biology, Research and Management (2012, background): “Much of the recent focus on spawning aggregations can be attributed to the deleterious effect that fi shing them can have on the target species (Sala et al. 2001 ; Sadovy and Domeier 2005 ) .”
• Observations of a Nassau grouper, Epinephelus striatus, Spawning Aggregation Site in Little Cayman, Cayman Islands, Including Multi-Species Spawning Information (2004, background): “Possible benefits of aggregating to reproduce include reduction of egg predation, increased genetic exchange, and higher fertilization rates (Domeier & Colin 1997, Bolden 2000, Sala et al. 2001).”
• Integrating physiology and life history to improve fisheries management and conservation (2006, background): “As one specific example, the abundance of Nassau grouper (Epinephelus striatus, which are red listed by IUCN; Colin 1992) in the Caribbean has declined by as much as 80% since 1975 (Sala et al. 2001).”
• Conservation and fisheries effects of spawning aggregation marine protected areas: What we know, where we should go, and what we need to get there (2014, background): “2013) and may generate alternative livelihoods to fishing, such as the case of ecotourism (Ruitenbeek, 2001; Sala et al., 2001; Heyman et al., 2010).”
• Historical analysis of Cuban commercial fishing effort and the effects of management interventions on important reef fishes from 1960-2005 (2009, background): “In addition, this species is long-lived with late maturation, making it particularly vulnerable to over-fishing and in need of appropriate management action (Claro et al., 1990; Sadovy and Eklund, 1999; Sala et al., 2001; Sadovy de Mitcheson et al., 2008).”
• Aggregations and offshore movements as indicators of spawning activity of bonefish (Albula vulpes) in The Bahamas (2011, background): “…for the conservation and management of Wsh stocks, since Wsh that aggregate at speciWc times and locations can be especially vulnerable to intense Wshing pressure and overharvesting (Coleman et al. 1996; Domeier and Colin 1997; Roberts and Hawkins 1999; Musick et al. 2000; Sala et al. 2001).”
• Global conservation status and research needs for tarpons (Megalopidae), ladyfishes (Elopidae) and bonefishes (Albulidae) (2014, background): “Harvest from spawning aggregations of other tropical species has led to fisheries collapses, including the once ubiquitous Nassau grouper (e.g., Sala et al. 2001).”
• Spawning Aggregation Sites of Snapper and Grouper Species (Lutjanidae and Serranidae) on the Insular Shelf of Cuba (2003, background): “A spawning aggregation of dog snapper, Lutjanus jocu (Pisces: Lutjanidae) in Belize, Central America.”
• Vulnerability of seamount fish to fishing: Fuzzy analysis of life-history attributes (2006, background): “In addition, species that display social aggregation behaviours such as shoaling, schooling (Pitcher & Parrish, 1993) or shoal spawning may have higher vulnerability because of increased catchability when their abundance declines, often referred to as hyperstability of catch rates (Hilborn & Walters”
• Fishing groupers towards extinction: a global assessment of threats and extinction risks in a billion dollar fishery (2013, background): “For example, shallow-water recreational catch and release fisheries can be lucrative for supply vendors, while larger groupers are major attractions to divers; the spectacular spawning aggregations of some species were calculated to be far more valuable in diver dollars than as a commercial fishery ”