Use of a marine reserve in Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii by the giant trevally, Caranx ignobilis

Published source details Wetherbee B.M., Holland K.N., Meyer C.G. & Lowe C.G. (2004) Use of a marine reserve in Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii by the giant trevally, Caranx ignobilis. Fisheries Research, 67, 253-263.
Share Tweet Email

Actions

This study is summarised as evidence for the following.

	Action	Category
	Cease or prohibit all types of fishing in a marine protected area Action Link

Cease or prohibit all types of fishing in a marine protected area

A site comparison study in 1994–1998 in an area of coral reef in the North Pacific Ocean, Hawaii (Wetherbee et al. 2004) found that the short and long-term movement patterns of tagged and tracked giant trevally Caranx ignobilis indicated that a marine reserve where all fishing was prohibited for over 30 years was used by only certain sizes of trevally, and there were frequent movements outside the reserve into fished areas where some were caught by fishers, thus it provided limited protection from fishing. Average size of trevally caught inside the reserve was 28 cm total length (range 14–43 cm) and 22 cm (range 16–37 cm) for those caught outside. Of 289 conventionally tagged trevally 33 fish (11%) were recaptured after an average time at liberty of 346 days (min 2 d, max >7 y). A high percentage (79%) of the recaptured trevally were originally tagged inside the reserve, but only 15% were both tagged and recaptured there, while nearly one third were caught by fishers over 3 km away (up to 70 km). The movement activity of five fish tracked for 9–125 hours showed they spent considerable time inside the reserve but also made frequent movements outside (data reported as minimum convex polygons and kernel home range). Coconut Island (situated on 137,000 m² of reef flat, 2.4 km linear perimeter) has been a marine reserve for over 30 years, with a no-fishing zone extending 8 metres seaward from the reef edge. Giant trevally sizes in and around the reserve were collected opportunistically throughout the year between 1994 and 1998 from research fishing. Long-term movements were monitored by recaptures over 9.5 years (dates of tagging were not reported) of 58 conventionally tagged trevally caught by rod and line inside the reserve and 231 caught by traps outside. The short-term movements of five trevally fitted with transmitters were tracked by boat using a hydrophone for periods up to 14 days (sampling times were not reported).

(Summarised by: Rosslyn McIntyre)