The effectiveness of Marine Protected Areas and the impacts of aquarium fish collecting in Hawaii
Tissot BN, Walsh WJ, Hallacher LE. 2002. The effectiveness of Marine Protected Areas and the impacts of aquarium fish collecting in Hawaii. final report year 2001. Hawaii Coral Reef Initiative. Honolulu, HI
Analysis of five post-closure surveys conducted in 2001 provided some evidence of an increase of aquarium fish stocks in newly established Fishery Replenishment Areas (FRAs). Although there were no statistically significant changes for any single species, aquarium fishes had a significant 0.8% increase in FRAs relative to controls and a significant 15.2% decrease in open areas relative to controls. Thus, the FRAs are enhancing the abundance of aquarium fishes relative to their natural abundances in control areas and also protecting aquarium fish stocks from further declines in abundance. These results appear to be due to the moderately high level of newly recruiting aquarium fishes observed in 2001 relative to 1999 and 2000. Thus, there is evidence that recruitment is an important mechanism replenishing depleted stocks within reserves in Hawaii. Moreover, analysis of the spatial distribution of juvenile yellow tangs suggest that habitat may be an important factor influencing fish abundance and more attention needs to be paid to post-settlement processes in this system.