Characteristics of coral reef fisheries in the Wakatobi islands

Abstract

Wakatobi National Park has a diverse fish population, and its conservation potential for reef fish resources is quite large. As a result, to be sustainable, the exploitation of these resources must be properly managed. This study aims to look into the characteristics of reef fish fisheries, such as species composition, catch, fishing ground, and fish length. The outcomes are hoped to be beneficial in monitoring the management of the resources. This research was conducted in April-November 2018 in Wakatobi, Indonesia. Analytical methods process the data. The results showed that gold spotted rabbitfish (Siganus punctatus), parrotfish (Hipposcarus longiceps), emperor (Lethrinus lentjan), grouper (Epinephelus sp), and trevallies (Caranx sp) dominated the total catch from muroami, speargun, and hand line. Muroami boats have a higher average CPUE (212 kg/trip/month) than speargun (29.0 kg/trip/month) and handlines (13.0 kg/trip/ship). Some of the reef fish caught in Wakatobi National Park is small and immature. Muroami net, speargun, and handline fishing are mostly done in the southern part of the Wakatobi National Park area, around Binongko Island. One of the management actions undertaken by Wakatobi fishermen is fishing inside the management zone that has been established, namely the local use zone.