Dependency of Queensland and the Great Barrier Reef’s tropical fisheries on reef-associated fish

Abstract

Coral reefs have been subject to mass coral bleaching, potentially causing rapid and widespread degradation of ecosystem services that depend on live coral cover, such as fisheries catch. Fisheries species in tropical waters associate with a wide range of habitats, so assessing the dependency of fisheries on coral reefs is important for guiding fishery responses to coral reef degradation. This study aimed to determine how fisheries catches associate with coral reefs in Queensland, Australia. Queensland’s largest fisheries did not target fish associated with reefs, but specific sectors, particularly aquarium fisheries and commercial fisheries in the mid to northern region had a high dependence on species that use coral reefs. Regions that had a greater relative area of coral reefs had higher catches of species that depend on live coral, suggesting that coral area could be used to predict the sensitivity of a jurisdiction’s fisheries to bleaching. Dynamic analysis of stock trends found that coral trout and red throat emperor, the two largest species by catch for the reef line fishery, were at risk of overfishing if habitat loss caused declines in stock productivity. Management of fisheries that are highly dependent on reefs may need to adapt to declining productivity, but further research to support ongoing reforms in Queensland’s fisheries is needed to quantitatively link reef degradation to stock production parameters is needed.

Variation in abundance, diversity and composition of coral reef fishes with increasing depth at a submerged shoal in the northern Great Barrier Reef

“…Because of the location of our study on the GBR, we focused on species from the CRFFF and pelagic fisheries only (see Table S1 for a full list of species). Data on Commercial Line Fishery species were obtained from logbook records via the QFish online portal (QDAF 2020), Queensland Fisheries Management Plan 2003(QDAF 2003 and existing Queensland Fisheries species groups categorisations from Brown et al (2020). In the CRFFF, there are 20 primary target species (accounting for approximately 95% of the total harvest) and 125 'other species' that are regularly retained as by-product for domestic markets (Tobin et al 2013).…”

The status of climate change adaptation in fisheries management: Policy, legislation and implementation

“…In contrast, a 2020 independent review of Australia's Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act of 1999, which provides an auxiliary legal framework to protect and manage marine ecosystems and Commonwealth fisheries, has highlighted substantial shortfalls in acknowledging and adapting to the cumulative effects of climate change and human pressures on terrestrial and marine ecosystems ( Samuel, 2020). This includes inadequate protection of the Great Barrier Reef, through the EPBC Act of 1999 , that does not promote climate‐resiliency and which challenges reef‐associated fisheries and their management (Brown et al., 2020; Hughes et al., 2015).…”

Demographic histories shape population genomics of the common coral grouper (Plectropomus leopardus)

“…The large effective population size and higher relative genetic diversity may also assist with adaptation to changing environmental conditions. These results, however, should not be interpreted as a panacea, as P. leopardus populations have declined throughout the majority of their range (Sadovy de Mitcheson et al, 2013 ) and are subject to the cumulative impacts of habitat loss, fishing pressure, and climate‐driven thermal stress in the GBR (Brown et al, 2020 ; Brown et al, 2021 ; Frisch et al, 2016 ; Pratchett et al, 2017 ).…”