Abstract

Marine Fisheries Reserves (MFRs) should he integral to the management of tropical reef fisheries. Nevertheless, many questions regarding MFR design and function have not been fully answered. Paramount to the success of any MFR is the rate of movement of juvenile and adult fishes, as this will determine the rate of export of fish from an MFR and hence the degree of conservation and/or fishery enhancement in adjacent areas. Mark and recapture studies offer a potentially definitive way to estimate dispersal rates. Most past mark and recapture studies are of limited use in estimating dispersal rates. Deficiencies include the following: small sample size, limited spatial or temporal scale of recapture effort, confounding effects of habitat requirements, limited size range of fish marked, and insufficient data reporting. Reports of displacement distances over time do give some idea of the potential for dispersal, but without an understanding of the underlying processes controlling fish movement, generalizations derived from isolated studies could lead to significant over-or underestimation of dispersal rate.

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