Volume 69
Recovery of Nassau Grouper in the Cayman Islands: Predicting Future Population Levels
Authors
Waterhouse, L., J. Steward, C. Pattengill-Semmens, C, McCoy, B. Johnson,S. Happell, and B. X. Semmens Download PDF Open PDF in BrowserOther Information
Date: November, 2016
Pages: 331 - 332
Event: Proceedings of the Sixty eigth Annual Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute
City: Grand Cayman
Country: Cayman Islands
Abstract
Species which form aggregations to spawn, such as Nassau Grouper (Epinephelus striatus), are easily depleted by harvest during spawning (Sala et al. 2001). As such, many management agencies have adopted management actions to temper over-fishing, including: closures during spawning periods, marine protected areas at aggregation sites, and even complete elimination of harvest (Sadovy and Eklund 1999). In many cases these management actions occur after the population is seriously depleted. The challenge in assessing the effectiveness of such management thus lies largely in the development of accurate estimates of stock size and changes through time, as well as appropriate strategy evaluation.