Abstract

The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) is taking steps to ensure that fish spawning aggregation sites (FSAS) in the Great Barrler Reef Marine Park (GBRMP) are not being overexploited by fishing and disturbed by tourism. There is concern that commercial and recreational fishers are targeting FSAS in the GBRMP; and the presence of divers and fish feeding may affect the normal spawning behaviour of fishes at these sites. The GBRMP A is attempting to mitigate the impacts of these activities to ensure the maintenance of FSAS and the aggregating fish that depend on them. In this paper I discuss the introduction of seasonal closures and prohibition of fishing for species caught in the Queensland tropical coral reeffinfish fishery; the rezoning of the GBRMP, which will help protect FSAS via a network of no-take areas; and the locations of mooring, pontoon, and anchoring sites in relation to FSAS.

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