Regional Regulation Examples
A number of management measures have been employed for the protection of spawning aggregations within the Caribbean Basin and Indo-Pacific, as indicated in the table below. A variety of techniques have been used, ranging from the declaration of multiple, year-round MPAs at multi-species FSA sites in Belize, to seasonal closures for specific species and sites, gear bans, catch limits, total closure for certain species, and various combinations of these measures.
| Fisheries Regulatory Measures Applied to Reef Fish Spawning Aggregations | |||
| Country | Species | Management Action/year | Remarks |
| Bermuda | red hind | Seasonal area closure (May-August) of 2 sites—1974 | Landings declined in following years before stabilization after trap ban |
| red hind | 1) Seasonal closure of additional FSA site—1990 2) Seasonal (May-August) bag limit of 10 fish per boat per day—1990 |
1) Increased number of protected sites to 3 2) To limit sale of fish caught illegally at FSA sites |
|
| red hind black grouper yellowmouth grouper |
Minimum legal sizes—1996 Bag limit = 1 fish/boat/day, for black and yellowmouth grouper—1996 |
To assist in protection of spawning stock biomass | |
| grouper—red, Nassau, tiger, yellowfin | No take/no possession—1996 | Protect to allow population recovery of grouper species with low abundance | |
| Bahamas | grouper and rockfish | Landing of grouper < 3 lbs is prohibited—1986 | Protect spawning grouper biomass |
| Nassau grouper | Seasonal closure 1 December—28 February | Annually renewable closures during spawning season | |
| Florida (Riley's Hump) | mutton snapper | Seasonal closure (May-June) of designated area—1998-2001 | Protect FSA site |
| snappers—mutton, gray, cubera, dog, yellowtail | Permanent closure of designated area—2001 | Protection of multi-species FSA site | |
| Eastern Gulf of Mexico | goliath grouper | Protected species—1991, no take, no possession | Abundance at FSA site has slowly increased |
| Mexico (Yucatan) | Nassau grouper | No spearfishing at FSA site Mahahual—1993 | Declined in abundance due to heavy fishing pressure |
| Belize | Nassau grouper | Seasonal closure on possession from December - March | Continued catch and sale of Nassau groupers as fillet; declining FSA abundance at all known sites |
| All transient aggregating species | Permanent closure of 11 multi-species FSA sites throughout the country | Unprecedented cooperation between government, fishers and NGOs for conservation, but no effective enforcement of closures | |
| Cayman Islands | Nassau grouper | No fishing at 8 designated grouper FSA sites (November – March until 2011); no spearfishing or trapping within 1 nm of any FSA protected area during spawning season; bag limit 12 fish/boat/day of > 12 inches; proposed ban on spearfishing | Reduction of fishing mortality by gear restrictions/catch limits and temporal closures |
| Puerto Rico | red hind | Seasonal closure of 4 FSA sites off west coast—1995 | Increase in CPUE and mean size, west coast 1996-99 |
| Pohnpei | grouper | Seasonal sales ban, MPA on one multi-species grouper FSA site | Ineffective enforcement has lead to continued decline of FSA; subsistence fishing allowed during sales ban periods; indications of continued decline, including spawning populations covered by the MPA1 |
| Palau | grouper | Seasonal sales ban, MPA on two FSA sites | Ineffective enforcement has lead to continued decline of FSA; monitoring in 2005 showed the loss of 1 of 3 grouper FSA in an un-enforced MPA over a 10-year period2 |
| U.S. Virgin Islands | mutton snapper | Seasonal closure (April - June) of FSA site in St. Croix | No data on efficacy of measure is available |
| grouper and snapper | Seasonal closure (February-April) (Grammanik Bank) (St. Thomas); protects Nassau, yellowfin and tiger grouper and portion of dog and cubera FSA seasonally; closed to bottom fishing gear and anchoring. | No data on efficacy of measure is available | |
| red hind | Seasonal closure (December - February) Lang Bank (St. Croix); year-round closure (Red Hind Marine Conservation District) | No data on efficacy of measure is available for St. Croix; improved abundance, size and sex ratio at St. Thomas following closure3 (also protects historic Nassau grouper FSA site) | |
| Nassau and goliath grouper | No take year-round | No data on efficacy of measure is available | |
| groupers | Seasonal closure on catch (February-April) | Protects red, black, tiger, yellowfin and yellowedge groupers | |
| snappers | Seasonal closure on catch (April-June) | Protects mutton and lane snappers | |
| deepwater snappers | Seasonal closure on catch (October-December) | Protects vermillion, black, blackfin and silk snappers | |
| British Virgin Islands | red hind | Seasonal ban (Jan-Mar) on possession of red hind—1999 | Eliminates market for fish taken at FSA sites |
See Full Citations
1 Rhodes and Sadovy 2002, Rhodes and Tupper 2007, 2008
2 Johannes et al. 1999, Golbuu et al. unpublished data
3 Nemeth 2005