Abstract

Mangroves are known to represent a suitable habitat for fish species of commercial interest in their adult phase life and above all to play a role of nursery for many species coming from neighbouring ecosystems like seagrass beds or coral reefs. In most of the Caribbean areas, mangroves are regressing due to coastal management, land reclamation and wood cutting. A study on 32 mangrove sites of the bay of the Grand Cul-de-Sac Marin in Guadeloupe Island showed the existence of significant positive correlation between mangrove extent and the biomass of their associated fish assemblages. Among the 42 commercial fish species observed in the lagoon, 94.4% of the individuals are juveniles. Canonical factorial analyses of their distribution showed that: I) their spatial distribution is determined by the proximity or not of coral reefs and seagrass beds; II) their temporal distribution is under the influence of dry and wet seasons characteristics of the climate in Guadeloupe. These variations can be explained by ontogenetic migrations between the different ecosystems. The general regression of the mangrove surfaces in the Caribbean may conduct to an alteration of the juvenile fish assemblages that they shelter, in terms of diversity and biomass, and in the long term to a depletion of the coastal fish stocks.

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