Abstract

Many large groupers and snapper species can be considered as components of a snapper-grouper complex – a suite of species that share similar life history characteristics that are important predators and harvested as part of multi-species fisheries throughout the Wider Caribbean. Most members of this complex share common life history patterns that make them vulnerable to fishing pressure. They are generally long-lived, late to reproductive maturity, and spawn in transient aggregations at specific times and locations. Despite increased research focus and management attention in the last two decades, there have been few attempts to synthesize the research on the ecological processes that dictate the timing and locations of transient fish spawning aggregations. To address this knowledge gap and to provide information relevant to marine managers, this paper focuses on factors that determine the timing and location of aggregations using multidisciplinary data on 108 documented spawning sites from across 14 states and territories in the Wider Caribbean. To help prioritize and coordinate future research and monitoring for fish spawning aggregations, this paper offers a multi-tiered research framework which provides a logical progression in the study of spawning sites. Each level increases incrementally in financial cost and technical sophistication. The approach can be used to generate the minimum set of data needed for management action, with minimum time and cost, but also serve as a baseline for monitoring. We advocate applying the framework to facilitate consistent and coordinated scientific study, monitoring, and conservation across a network of transient spawning aggregation sites throughout the wider Caribbean.

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