The establishment of marine protected areas (MPAs) can often lead to environmental differences between MPAs and fishing zones. To determine the effects on marine dispersal of environmental dissimilarity between an MPA and fishing zone, we examined the abundance and recruitment patterns of two anemonefishes (Amphiprion frenatus and A. perideraion) that inhabit sea anemones in different management zones (i.e., an MPA and two fishing zones) by performing a field survey and a genetic parentage analysis. We found lower levels of abundance per anemone in the MPA compared to the fishing zones for both species (n = 1,525 anemones, p = .032). The parentage analysis also showed that lower numbers of fishes were recruited from the fishing zones and outside of the study area into each anemone in the MPA than into each anemone in the fishing zones (n = 1,525 anemones, p < .017). However, the number of self‐recruit production per female did not differ between the MPA and fishing zones (n = 384 females, p = .516). Because the ocean currents around the study site were unlikely to cause a lower settlement intensity of larvae in the MPA, the ocean circulation was not considered crucial to the observed abundance and recruitment patterns. Instead, stronger top‐down control and/or a lower density of host anemones in the MPA were potential factors for such patterns. Our results highlight the importance of dissimilarity in a marine environment as a factor that affects connectivity.
The diel habitat-use patterns of commercially important fishes in a small marine protected area (MPA) (0.31 km 2 ) containing coral reef and seagrass habitats were examined by passive acoustic telemetry during 2011 and 2012. The occurrence patterns of the target fishes both inside and outside the MPA were also observed. Thirty individuals from 6 species (20.2 to 41.4 cm fork length) were caught, acoustically tagged and released inside the MPA, and 4 to 210 d of tracking data were then obtained from 28 detected fishes. Lutjanus monostigma, Lethrinus atkinsoni, and Lethrinus obsoletus were found to mostly inhabit the coral reef. The remaining 3 species (Lutjanus argentimaculatus, Lethrinus harak, and Siganus guttatus) utilized both coral and seagrass habitats but showed different patterns: Lutjanus argentimaculatus visited seagrass only at night; Lethrinus harak occurred in the coral reef more at night than in the day, showing the opposite pattern in seagrass; and S. guttatus exhibited the converse pattern to L. harak. More than one-third of the tracked individuals moved inside and outside the MPA more than once per day on average during the tracking period. However, 95.4% of detections were recorded by acoustic receivers deployed inside the MPA. Underwater visual surveys revealed that the densities of some target fishes were significantly higher inside than outside the MPA. These findings suggest that the MPA protects the core of fish home ranges.
A passive acoustic telemetry survey was conducted to determine occurrence patterns of commercially important fishes on a steep reef slope along a marine protected area (MPA) in the southern Philippines, where the outer reef edge is often set as an offshore MPA boundary. Based on 4-61 days of tracking data from 21 detected individuals from five species (Lutjanus argentimaculatus, Lutjanus monostigma, Lethrinus atkinsoni, Lethrinus obsoletus, and Siganus guttatus; 20.7-69.2 cm fork length) caught near the reef slope of the MPA, S. guttatus occurred most frequently on the reef flat of the MPA, whereas all individuals of the four lutjanid and lethrinid species were primarily (99.4-100%) detected near the reef slope, and nine individuals (56.3% of the four species) belonging to three species (other than L. obsoletus) most likely used the shallow (≤10 m) and deep (≥20 m) layers and thus, those middle layer of the slope. These findings indicate that commercially important lutjanid and lethrinid species predominantly and vertically used the areas near the reef slope, suggesting the importance of fully including reef slopes in MPAs to enhance their effectiveness by conserving such fishes.
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