TY - JOUR

T1 - Ecological indicators for coral reef fisheries management

AU - Nash, Kirsty L.

AU - Graham, Nicholas Anthony James

N1 - This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Nash, K. L. and Graham, N. A. J. (2016), Ecological indicators for coral reef fisheries management. Fish and Fisheries. doi: 10.1111/faf.12157 which has been published in final form at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/faf.12157/abstract This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance With Wiley Terms and Conditions for self-archiving.

PY - 2016/12

Y1 - 2016/12

N2 - Coral reef fisheries are of great importance both economically and for food security, but many reefs are showing evidence of overfishing, with significant ecosystem-level consequences for reef condition. In response, ecological indicators have been developed to assess the state of reef fisheries and their broader ecosystem-level impacts. To date, use of fisheries indicators for coral reefs has been rather piecemeal, with no overarching understanding of their performance with respect to highlighting fishing effects. Here, we provide a review of multispecies fishery-independent indicators used to evaluate fishing impacts on coral reefs. We investigate the consistency with which indicators highlight fishing effects on coral reefs. We then address questions of statistical power and uncertainty, type of fishing gradient, scale of analysis, the influence of other variables and the need for more work to set reference points for empirical, fisheries-independent indicators on coral reefs. Our review provides knowledge that will help underpin the assessment of the ecological effects of fishing, offering essential support for the development and implementation of coral reef fisheries management plans.

AB - Coral reef fisheries are of great importance both economically and for food security, but many reefs are showing evidence of overfishing, with significant ecosystem-level consequences for reef condition. In response, ecological indicators have been developed to assess the state of reef fisheries and their broader ecosystem-level impacts. To date, use of fisheries indicators for coral reefs has been rather piecemeal, with no overarching understanding of their performance with respect to highlighting fishing effects. Here, we provide a review of multispecies fishery-independent indicators used to evaluate fishing impacts on coral reefs. We investigate the consistency with which indicators highlight fishing effects on coral reefs. We then address questions of statistical power and uncertainty, type of fishing gradient, scale of analysis, the influence of other variables and the need for more work to set reference points for empirical, fisheries-independent indicators on coral reefs. Our review provides knowledge that will help underpin the assessment of the ecological effects of fishing, offering essential support for the development and implementation of coral reef fisheries management plans.

KW - Artisanal fisheries

KW - ecosystem function

KW - indicator selection

KW - reference points

KW - sensitivity

KW - specificity

U2 - 10.1111/faf.12157

DO - 10.1111/faf.12157

M3 - Journal article

VL - 17

SP - 1029

EP - 1054

JO - Fish and Fisheries

JF - Fish and Fisheries

SN - 1467-2960

IS - 4

ER -