Abstract

Acoustic telemetry was used to quantify fish movements between St. Croix East End Marine Park (EEMP) no- take and recreational zones and connectivity between EEMP and Buck Island National Monument. We targeted fish species known to undergo migrations for feeding or reproduction and examined frequency of boundary crossings, rates of movement and residency. The majority of tagged species (n=52) were in four fish families: groupers, snappers, grunts and parrotfish with the remaining fish (n=11) being triggerfish, jacks, sharks and goatfish. The majority of fish movements occurred between the fore reef protected and recreational zones (76.1%) followed by movements between the back reef protected and recreational zones (14.4%), indicating that fish movements were predominately linear and parallel to the reef crest. Some species also moved between the fore reef and back reef (8.2%). Red hind, coney and parrotfishes showed the lowest frequency of boundary crossings whereas snappers, grunts, queen triggerfish, bar jack, Nassau grouper and nurse sharks showed higher frequency of boundary crossings. Long distance movements from EEMP to Buck Island (1.5 km) and EEMP to Lang Bank (15 to 20 km) occurred less frequently, 1.25% and 0.11%, respectively. Large-scale movements were observed by Nassau grouper, red hind and queen triggerfish, species known to undergo spawning migrations, but also included lane and school master snappers. Diel movement patterns varied by species and included increased movements during day (Nassau, coney, redband parrotfish), night (nurse shark, lane snapper) or crepuscular (jacks, schoolmaster snapper, mahogany snapper) periods. These results will provide a measure of vulnerability among different trophic groups and guide adaptive management decisions regarding size and design of marine protected areas.

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