Abstract

Marine harvest refuges have great potential for protecting, sustaining, and possibly, increasing fisheries resources. Since 1996, I have monilored populations of Caribbean spiny lobsters Panulirus argus and queen conch Strombus gigas in a new marine reserve at the Glover's Reef atoll, Belize. Habitat use accounted for the size-class distribution of lobsters and conch. Density initially fluctuated with fishing season in both the General Use zone (fishing by permit) and the Conservation zone (fishing prohibited), indicating that compliance in the no-fishing area was initially low. Trends show a recent increase in thedensity of adult conch in the no-fishing zone coinciding with increased enforcement, but the density of adult lobsters has not increased. The mean size of conch has also increased in theno-fishing zone, but there has been no significant change in the mean size of lobsters in the protected area. The spiny lobster population in the reserve has not responded as expected, most likely due to insufficient amounts of critical habitats under protection and fragmentation of habitats by zonal boundaries.

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