Conservation Thread

[dizzy]

Greg,
Looks like you forgot to crop the photo. The two at the bottom don't look so good. 8O
Mitch

PS
I think it would be great if you grow them out for the live tropical fish trade. I'm a little less sure if it makes sense trying to use them to re-populate reefs. If the MPAs take it may not even be necessary. You might also be able to catch target species in areas where they are common and release them in the depleted areas cheaper than you can raise post larval fish with good survival skills. I remember ERI use to tout their post larval fish as eating a completely new diet from what they would in the wild. They claimed coral polyp eating butterflies would eat flake food and such. Be careful you don't do something to change nature. Learn from the mongoose.

 

[naesco]

Folks,

The post-larvae can be grown out under various conditions and they will retain their skills in negotiating with the world.

Obviously, there are two potential streams for the juvenile fish.
1) Allow the local fishermen to sell them directly as an additional income source, and/or
2) Use them for restocking.

We would like to do both.

The first was pioneered by Ecocean in other locations around the world, and they have had financially viable results.

Regarding the second: As far as I know, no one has tried this before with selected reef fish anywhere, and there are no published studies. We have just carried out the first year's study and are writing up the results now for publication.

Rex has completed an initial experiment and the results are encouraging that a significant percentage of juveniles are retained on the reef after several weeks. It is easier to track reef fish than milkfish or spotted drum without tags because they settle on a specific patch of coral.

We would like to now expand these experiments to a larger scale and see if we can accomplish both goals. Given that a major problem on reefs is overfishing and an imbalance in the fish populations, it seems like a good investment, especially since some food fish can be raised.

As one poster pointed out, this not only can increase income for the fishermen but is a source of guaranteed CN-free fish.

Greg

Greg thank you very much for this information. I is a pleasure to see the steps that REEFCHECK is taking steps in larval raised fish.

It is in the best industry of the local fishers who would derive income from their sale. It would prove that industry is 100% behind conservation and thwart any attempt to legislate prohibitive laws.
It would give the reefs a chance to mature towards sustainability by allowing mature fish to re-populate the reefs.
Please continue this good work.
Thank you
Wayne Ryan

 

[clarionreef]

Wayne,
Larval grow out is not alternative livlihood for out of work fisherman.
and freeing larvae on reefs without reformed fisherfolk and healthy coral cover will not work.
IF...training and benign methods are ever given importance and reefs allowed to heal in aquarium trade areas...they will self recruit.
Seeding them cannot hurt....but as we all know, seeding a garden means very little if the habitat is not first healthy and conducive to supporting thriving produce.
If the requisite coral cover is not present, the fry will not long survive.
Steve

 

[PeterIMA]

With regard to Rex's question concerning methods for marking larval fishes being released to the reefs, he might try the following:

1) Rear the larvae in oxytetracycline. Fishes recaptured later (at a larger size) can be identified by placing their otoliths (ear stones) under ultraviolet light (yellow flourescence visible).

2) I believe that there are flourescent dyes that can be sprayed onto juvenile and possibly larval fishes that are not visible to the human eye, but are visible under black UV light. Hence, fishes recaptured can be identified in the field by placing them in a box with a black flourescent light source (dyes visible as various colors visible under black UV light).

Peter Rubec

 

[reefcheck-rsphil]

Hello Peter,

Thanks for the info. Appreciate this very much!

Planes & Lecaillon 2001, Coral Reefs 20:211-218, btw is a related article on fish restocking experiments.

Rex

 

[Reef Check Scientist Phil]

Hi to all,

I am just adding to answers whether areas in the Philippines are still sustainable with regards to aquarium trade. Reef Check is using several strategies to make the trade in these areas sustainable by: (1) establishing new marine protected areas and/or supporting and improving existing ones; (2) initiating rehabilitation activities such as those Rex described in some posts; and (2) helping the community develop and implement management plans. For the latter, we specifically indicate catch limits given fisheries models and data on hand. We have developed with MAC as well a mechanism that collection levels relative to TACs are continuously tracked.

We also track trends in catch-per-unit effort of targets from catch records. So far, the data for several species in our project areas indicate no significant decline in catch-per-unit effort for various species in Batasan and Clarin. Therefore, collection has been continued for these species. We are still in the process of updating our analysis for Camotes and Marcilla.

Reef Check also drafts a precautionary species list per area that needs careful monitoring in trends in catch-per-unit effort. These species are usually the high-demand and high-priced. As a management tool, any significant decline in catch-per-unit effort (number of fish caught per hour per fisherman) within three months should trigger a local community meeting and a decision to decrease fishing effort.


Domingo
Reef Check Scientist

 

[naesco]

Hi to all,

I am just adding to answers whether areas in the Philippines are still sustainable with regards to aquarium trade. Reef Check is using several strategies to make the trade in these areas sustainable by: (1) establishing new marine protected areas and/or supporting and improving existing ones; (2) initiating rehabilitation activities such as those Rex described in some posts; and (2) helping the community develop and implement management plans. For the latter, we specifically indicate catch limits given fisheries models and data on hand. We have developed with MAC as well a mechanism that collection levels relative to TACs are continuously tracked.

We also track trends in catch-per-unit effort of targets from catch records. So far, the data for several species in our project areas indicate no significant decline in catch-per-unit effort for various species in Batasan and Clarin. Therefore, collection has been continued for these species. We are still in the process of updating our analysis for Camotes and Marcilla.

Reef Check also drafts a precautionary species list per area that needs careful monitoring in trends in catch-per-unit effort. These species are usually the high-demand and high-priced. As a management tool, any significant decline in catch-per-unit effort (number of fish caught per hour per fisherman) within three months should trigger a local community meeting and a decision to decrease fishing effort.

Domingo
Reef Check Scientist

Continue the good work.
What is your initial monitoring showing in terms of significant decline in high-demand fish? Which species are at risk?
Thanks Wayne Ryan

 

[Anonymous]

Thank you for sharing Domingo.

As a hobbyist (consumer) that likes hearing good news instead of bad, would you mind sharing a little more? - Like, a sampling of some of the common species that are not showing a decline?

Thanks again,
Norm

 

[Reef Check Scientist Phil]

Hi to all,

As mentioned, one of the strategies in making areas sustainable is developing and implementing management plans (e.g. catch limits, rehabilitation activities and no-take marine protected areas). Catch records are also being tracked to infer trends in stock abundance especially of highly cryptic species. Any decline in catch-per-unit-effort should lead to decrease in fishing effort.

In most cases in the Philippines, only a few species constitute the significant volume of the trade in an area. In Batasan island and nearby reefs in central Philippines, for example, only three fish species comprise 65 to 70% of the trade. These species are the butterflyfish Chelmon rostratus, the green mandarinfish Synchiropus splendidus, and the maroon clownfish Premnas biaculeatus. The trends in the catch-per-unit effort (the number of fish collected per hour per collector) of these species have not indicated any significant decline (given available data from 2002 to 2005) thus their continued collection by local collectors.

Yours,

Domingo
Reef Check Scientist

 

[Anonymous]

Hi to all,

As mentioned, one of the strategies in making areas sustainable is developing and implementing management plans (e.g. catch limits, rehabilitation activities and no-take marine protected areas). Catch records are also being tracked to infer trends in stock abundance especially of highly cryptic species. Any decline in catch-per-unit-effort should lead to decrease in fishing effort.

In most cases in the Philippines, only a few species constitute the significant volume of the trade in an area. In Batasan island and nearby reefs in central Philippines, for example, only three fish species comprise 65 to 70% of the trade. These species are the butterflyfish Chelmon rostratus, the green mandarinfish Synchiropus splendidus, and the maroon clownfish Premnas biaculeatus. The trends in the catch-per-unit effort (the number of fish collected per hour per collector) of these species have not indicated any significant decline (given available data from 2002 to 2005) thus their continued collection by local collectors.

Yours,

Domingo
Reef Check Scientist

Are they only collecting those three due to them being the only suitable MOF around, or are they only conecentrating on them and leaving the other MOF? What happenned to the divertisity of this location if that's all thats around for MO fishers to collect? Can a fishery be sustainable with only 3 species being OK in #'s, and the rest being wiped out?

 

[mark@mac]

Gresham,

I can answer some of your questions as I've worked in these sites several times:

The three species cited are most dominant in Bohol. I am amazed at how many mandarin there are there! There are also several other species, but none I would consider high demand in the trade and none in very high numbers to make a good mix. This is one of the big reasons we have seen so few certified fish thus far.

Since working in the PHilippines I am proud to have added species mix, and a market demand perspective to the site selection criteria being used now to ensure future sites have a better, more desirable species mix.

my 2cents

Mark

 

[Reef Check Scientist Phil]

Hi to all,

In Batasan Island and nearby reefs, the collectors collect more than 60 fish species. But as I said, they concentrate only on a few species. There are more orders on these few species. Traditionally these few species also constitute a major part of the collection. But surveys indicate there are more ornamental fish species than collectors harvest and know of. In one survey, Reef Check scientists recorded more than 150 fish species. That is on top of the ornamental invertebrates. That is why surveys are important because they can show what other resources are also found in an area.

Domingo
Reef Check Scientist

 

[clarionreef]

"In one survey, Reef Check scientists recorded more than 150 fish species."

Yes but...
Manila importers do not want to incur domestic frieght costs from Cebu on common, ordinary species that also occur on Luzon where fish are delivered overland more inexpensively. In fact, no one would.
Commercial interest...not scientific, determines the utility of species lists for livlihood enhancement and commerce.
3 stripe damsels, green chromis, valentini puffers, green filefish, klieni butterflies and halfblack angels in Camotes and Buhol will stay in Camotes and Buhol as their frieght costs would approach the price already given to Luzon based divers..
In other words...their non viability in the trade makes them pretty much value-free.
Buhol was an unfortunate choice to headquarter the mission to say the least.
Sincerely, Steve




.

 

[PeterIMA]

Steve, You make an excellent point about common species coming from Luzon and the fact that it is not economic to bring in common species to Manila from places like Cebu or Tawi Tawi. Does this mean that we must wait until sites like Camotes and Batasan are completely depleted of marketable species BEFORE the trade shifts to more distant collecting areas?

Without reform of the pricing paid to the collectors and a rational plan for exploitation of species using nets the trade is doomed by its own myopic exploitation strategies. Basically, the exporters need to change their strategy from purchasing cheap fish caught with cyanide to paying a little more for net-caught fish.

We also need a strategy to allow the reefs to recover by creating MPAs, and through educating the collectors and other fishermen to protect and conserve their marine resources. ReefCheck can play a valuable role in this, provided the MAC also changes their training strategies to support sustainable harvesting (net-training that works) and helps to also implement other community-based management strategies.

Peter Rubec

 

[clarionreef]

Dr Rubec wrote,
Basically, the exporters need to change their strategy from purchasing cheap fish caught with cyanide to paying a little more for net-caught fish.

How do I say that I agree that they should and also tell you that they never will.
Since I know they will not do it...why set ourselves up dependant upon a moral revolution of conscience among them when our own trade and hobby would not support the cost increases for ordinary netcaught fish?
How could we expect a higher level of ethics then we would ourselves would deliver?
Besides...if the same netcaught variety were available on Luzon...dealers would simply select Luzon sources.

With the large and sudden increases in frieght costs out of Manila [ and the rest of the world] we all just suffered...futher interisland frieght costs cannot...nay, will not be borne futher on common species.
Buhol always was more of a niche source...not a general variety source.
It used to have more locally significant species, but that was when the reefs were in better shape.
This is why the decision to HDQR the MAC mission in the Visayas was inexplicable.
Steve
And futhermore...there are more netcaught collectors on Luzon then anywhere else.

 

[Reef Check HQ]

Thanks for all the good comments.

No one has done the experiments on post-larval growout and release until now. So we really don't know how well rehabiliation will work on a large scale. But the small-scale experiments have been promising and Rex can tell you more about them.

From an observational point of view, we see that some of these reefs like the ones in NW Bohol were never that "great" as far as reef habitat goes due to their low relative relief and lack of diverse habitats. Therefore, even when a well-protected MPA is set up, they tend to recover more slowly than other sites nearer to Cebu that get lots of water flow from the 1 mile deep channel that runs between Bohol and Cebu.

So the idea for the larval release as a rehab technique is aimed at those sites that will never naturally recover very quickly -- and theoretically would kick start the process.

We hope to have more answers by the end of this year.

Greg

 

[Anonymous]

Hi to all,

In Batasan Island and nearby reefs, the collectors collect more than 60 fish species. But as I said, they concentrate only on a few species. There are more orders on these few species. Traditionally these few species also constitute a major part of the collection. But surveys indicate there are more ornamental fish species than collectors harvest and know of. In one survey, Reef Check scientists recorded more than 150 fish species. That is on top of the ornamental invertebrates. That is why surveys are important because they can show what other resources are also found in an area.

Domingo
Reef Check Scientist

Thanks

 

[dizzy]

From an observational point of view, we see that some of these reefs like the ones in NW Bohol were never that "great" as far as reef habitat goes due to their low relative relief and lack of diverse habitats.

So the idea for the larval release as a rehab technique is aimed at those sites that will never naturally recover very quickly -- and theoretically would kick start the process.

Greg

Greg,
I'm a little confused as to what your goals are here. Are you trying to return the reefs to the way they might naturally occur? Or are you trying to turn these depleted areas into growout farms for high value aquarium fish?
Thanks,
Mitch

 

[sdcfish]

Mitch,

That's a great idea! If we can turn depleted reefs into something healthy and worth while protecting, then the locals might actually be able to make a living on those reefs and give them a reason to protect them in the future from harmful fishing practices that might have been the cause in the first place.

Giving the reefs value is probably the most practical way to protect them and a very good way to support the local economy. Once the locals are earning money from their resource, it's obvious that they will protect it. You don't have to pay an outside policeman to watch out for what they see every day.

I think these basic principles have been very well established as one practical way to police areas from destructive activities.

Best regards

Eric

 

[sdcfish]

For anyone interested, here's a link to the Reefcheck Fundraiser that was held last weekend. It's a fun video with lot's of cool people giving praise to Reefcheck.

Click below and enjoy! Next time, please come on out and join us all.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... 4306393304

Best regards

Eric