Critical thresholds and tangible targets for ecosystem-based management of coral reef fisheries

• Published in: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS Vol. 108; no. 41; pp. 17230 - 17233
• Main Authors: McClanahan, Tim R, Graham, Nicholas A. J, MacNeil, M. Aaron, Muthiga, Nyawira A, Cinner, Joshua E, Bruggemann, J. Henrich, Wilson, Shaun K
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States National Academy of Sciences 11.10.2011; National Acad Sciences
• Subjects: Animals; Biodiversity; Biodiversity and Ecology; Biological Sciences; Biomass; Conservation; Conservation of Natural Resources; Coral Reefs; corals; data collection; Ecological sustainability; Ecosystem; Ecosystem management; Ecosystems; Environmental Sciences; fish; Fisheries; Fisheries - methods; Fisheries management; Indian Ocean; Linear Models; management systems; Marine ecology; Marine ecosystems; Models, Biological; Ocean fisheries; Reefs; Sustainability management; Sustainable development; Sustainable fisheries management; Sustainable yield; Indian Ocean; ISW, Indian Ocean; sustainable fisheries; social-ecological systems; human-environment interactions; marine protected areas; Resilience
• ISSN: 0027-8424; 1091-6490; 1091-6490
• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1106861108

Sustainably managing ecosystems is challenging, especially for complex systems such as coral reefs. This study develops critical reference points for sustainable management by using a large empirical dataset on the coral reefs of the western Indian Ocean to investigate associations between levels of target fish biomass (as an indicator of fishing intensity) and eight metrics of ecosystem state. These eight ecological metrics each exhibited specific thresholds along a continuum of fishable biomass ranging from heavily fished sites to old fisheries closures. Three thresholds lay above and five below a hypothesized window of fishable biomass expected to produce a maximum multispecies sustainable yield (BMMSY). Evaluating three management systems in nine countries, we found that unregulated fisheries often operate below the BMMSY, whereas fisheries closures and, less frequently, gear-restricted fisheries were within or above this window. These findings provide tangible management targets for multispecies coral reef fisheries and highlight key tradeoffs required to achieve different fisheries and conservation goals.