Movement Behavior of Fishes: The Role of Scale and No-Take Protection in the Conch Reef SPA/RO

Principal Investigator:

James Lindholm, Ph.D., Pfleger Institute of Environmental Research

Co-Investigators:

Les Kaufman, Ph.D., Boston University

Steven Miller, Ph.D., University of North Carolina

Veronique Koch, NOAA Fisheries/University of Miami

Timeline:

November 2005; on-going.

Marine reserves (MRs), also known as no-take reserves, represent one of the primary tools for conservation and management of the marine environment.  Increasing interest in MRs over the past decade has focused broadly on the conservation of biological diversity and on fisheries management. While the theoretical justification for MRs is extensive and mounting evidence demonstrates the effectiveness of MRs as management tools, empirical data is still needed on the utility of MRs for mobile taxa such as fishes.

Key questions we wish to answer in this regard are:

1. A conservation question: Are the current MR locations and sizes appropriate for the protection of the species of interest?
2. A fishery management question: Is there “spillover” of exploitable animals from inside the reserve into surrounding fished areas?

The need for answers to these questions is particularly acute in locations where conflicting resource issues generate controversy over management actions, such as the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary where 23 no-take reserves were zoned and designated in 1997.  However, despite decades of extensive study, there is still very little known about the movement behavior of many Caribbean reef fish. Where traditional technologies for surveying fish, such as research trawls, SCUBA, and remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) are limited in their ability to follow individual fish for extended periods of time, acoustic telemetry provides scientists an opportunity track individual fish movements for periods ranging from days to years. These data are vital for understanding the ecology of the fishes as well as how MRs can be designed for their conservation and management.

Beginning during the November 2005 mission to the Aquarius Undersea Laboratory, coded-acoustic transmitters will be surgically implanted in coral reef fishes at Conch Reef, within the Conch Reef Sanctuary Preservation Area and Research Only Area (marine reserves designated by the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary).

A total of 80 fish, including black grouper, red grouper, yellowtail snapper, princess parrotfish, and hogfish, will be collected, surgically-tagged, released and subsequently tracked by saturation divers.

Saturation divers conduct surgical implantation of an acoustic transmitter in a coral reef fish using a portable PVC surgical station.
Photo credit: Rick Riera-Gomez/RSMAS

Saturation diver swims with a tagged scamp grouper during recovery immediately following surgery.
Photo credit: Rick Riera-Gomez/RSMAS

Saturation diver uses a hand-held acoustic receiver to track movements of tagged fish.
Photo credit: Sarah Fangman/NOAA

The fine-scale behavior and movement of tagged fishes will be studied during the mission by saturation divers. The long-term tracking of tagged fishes will be conducted by an array of acoustic receivers that will be deployed at Conch Reef, as well as at Davis Reef (to the south) and Pickles Reef (to the north).

The placement of the receivers will allow scientists to:

1. Track movements of tagged fishes within the reserve
2. Record any spillover of tagged fish from the reserve into surrounding fished areas
3. Record any movement away from Conch Reef to the north or south, for up to 1 year following the Aquarius mission.

A tagged hogfish forages adjacent to Aquarius one day following surgical implantation of an acoustic transmitter. The surgical incision is visible just off the ventral line, forward of the anal fin, while the external flag tag is clearly visible at the base of the dorsal fin.
Photo credit: Rick Riera-Gomez/RSMAS

PIER gratefully acknowledges the support of the National Undersea Research Center at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington; National Marine Sanctuary Program.

To learn more about the Aquarius habitat, check out www.uncw.edu/aquarius