Abstract

Most commercially important Caribbean reef fish species reproduce within transient spawning aggregations in specific times and places. Fishers have long recognized and capitalized on this behavior, and heavy fishing pressure on spawning aggregations has led to declines and extirpations around the Caribbean, particularly for Nassau grouper. For the same reason that spawning aggregations are attractive to fishers, they are also an opportunity for managers to monitor the populations. To maximize this opportunity, we developed, tested, and produced a standardized protocol and accompanying database for monitoring transient reef fish spawning aggregations. The protocol includes both fisheries dependent and independent techniques for data collection as well as physical oceanographic measures. The accompanying database and user manual are designed intimately with the monitoring protocol, providing easy data entry and data retrieval via generation of reports. The system design allows upgrading to a web-based, SQL-server platform that can handle data from around the world. The protocol has been adopted by the World Bank’s Meso-American Barrier Reef Systems Project (MBRS) for Belize, Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala.

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