15 - SCRFA update

Our work continues to focus on research and education with the aim of having aggregation protection become a standard of fishery management and conservation planning. Despite much improved awareness of the problems faced by many aggregating species, few today are effectively managed or their aggregations incorporated systematically into marine protected areas or into ecosystem planning. Our membership of the International Coral Reef Initiative (ICRI) has been an important part of our work over the past year. At the 25th General Meeting of ICRI meeting on 8-12 November 2010, in Apia, Samoa, the Ad Hoc Committee on ‘Coral Reef Associated Fisheries’ prepared an Advisory paper on “the importance of a sustainable management of coral reef spawning aggregations” for submission to the 7th Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) Heads of Fisheries Meeting in New Caledonia earlier this year. The paper was presented by Dr. Eric Clua of the Coral Reef Initiative of the South Pacific (CRISP) on behalf of ICRI and SCRFA and was well-received (See: http://www.spc.int/fame/en/component/content/article/82 seventh-spc-headsof-fisheries-meeting-working paper number 7 - WP7). Fishery heads are interested to learn more about their spawning aggregations in collaboration with SPC.

Two film projects have enabled us to get the word out on spawning aggregations to a wider public. In Palau, we worked with Roll’em Productions to produce a film entitled ‘Fish for the Future’. It is a story of the reef fishery history and current condition in Palau and how spawning aggregations fit into the picture. It was released in November 2010 and intended to raise awareness about the precarious state of the coastal fishery in the country. Earlier this year, Dr. Clua (CRISP) invited my participation in a documentary on spawning aggregations. The film has some great spawning footage and will be available shortly. We hope it will reach a wide section of the general public. (See SPC Fisheries Newsletter: http://www.spc.int/DigitalLibrary/Doc/FAME/InfoBull/FishNews/135/FishNews135_16_Sadovy.pdf.)

Over the last year we have continued collaborations in Fiji, Belize, and The Bahamas. Our research results from our project with the Fiji Fisheries Research Division at the Naiqoro Passage marine protected area spawning aggregation in Kadavu are very encouraging and provide a good baseline for understanding this site (see article below). In Belize I am working with the Wildlife Conservation Society on a protocol for Nassau grouper aggregation monitoring. This involves trips (see article below) to Belize and a great chance to see Nassau groupers spawning again. It is also a pleasure to see in practice the work of the Belize Spawning Aggregation Working Group which has been very successful in generating multi sector support for protective measures for this and several other species. In The Bahamas, I am working with University of British Columbia fishery expert Dr. William Cheung and staff from the Bahamas Fishery Department on a fishery model to assess the status of Nassau grouper in the country, with funding from the Caribbean Fishery Management Council. The model makes use of fishery data and fisher interviews and is a follow-up to an interview training workshop I conducted in Nassau in 2009.

For release in November, 2011, is the first book dedicated completely to aggregations, entitled “Reef Fish Spawning Aggregations: Biology, Research and Management” (eds. myself and Patrick L. Colin) due out next month. http://www.springer.com/life+sciences/animal+sciences/book/978-94-007-1979-8). We hope that the book will raise the profile of aggregations and attract much needed attention.

Yvonne Sadovy de Mitcheson
Director SCRFA