Abstract

Most fisheries in the Caribbean are in decline. Regional governments have implemented fisheries management strategies with varying degrees of success. Although there are few examples of sustained fisheries in the Caribbean, there is evidence that damaged fisheries can recover and that some fisheries are sustainable. Recent research has documented that reef fish abundance can increase in closed areas and marine reserves. Investigations in the Virgin Islands have documented that species composition may be maintained at relatively low fishing effort. Fisheries landings may be sustained at higher fishing effort, but the species composition may change with increased yields of fecund, fast-growing species (e.g., surgeonfishes and parrotfishes) and depressed yields of long-lived. slow growing species (e.g., groupers and snappers). Sound management strategies are dependent on reliable fisheries data collection and efficient assessment methods, however, many conventional approaches are not effective for most tropical reef fisheries and ignore changes in fish assemblage structure. Assessments which use information on species composition may prove beneficial for management in tropical reef fisheries. The greatest challenge will be to derive fisheries strategies which will sustain fisheries, with intact assemblage structure, over decades.

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