Abstract

Coral reef fish are an important resource throughout the Caribbean, especially in developing countries. The coral reef fish fishery of the Dominican Republic is purely artisanal. This fishery exploits many different species using many types of fishing gear. Coral reef tish are especially vulnerable to over-fishing due to their life histories. For example, predatory fish tend to be among the largest individuals on coral reefs and are usually the target for coastal artisanal fishermen. Fishing pressure has dramatically reduced the value of these fishery resources by removing the large individuals which have both economic and ecological value. There were two principal objectives in the study: 1) to determine the distribution of predators among coral reefs of Parque Nacionale del Este (PNDE), Dominican Republic and 2) to understand how predators influence local catch composition.\The predatory fish species examined in this study belong to the families Serranidae, Lutjanidae, and Haemulidae. There were significant differences in the distribution of tbe species examined among habitat types. Very few individuals were observed over 25 cm total length. The density was least abundant on patch reefs. The artisanal fishermen in this park fish mainly by hook-and-line, trap, and spear. Over 28% of fish caught by artisanal fishermen were yellowtail snapper (Ocyurus chrysurus). It is likely that both recruitment failure and over-fishing have caused the present lack of large predatory fish in PNDE.

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