Examining the development of a parrotfish fishery in The Bahamas: Social considerations &amp; management implications

Callwood, Karlisa A.

doi:10.1016/j.gecco.2021.e01677

Cited by 5 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 42 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The messages in the study discuss the same topic across all experimental posters: the issue of parrotfish fisheries and consumption in The Bahamas. See Callwood (2021 [50]) for a complete examination of this burgeoning fishery across The Bahamas that threatens parrotfish populations and hinders their important role in maintaining the health of coral reefs. With other fisheries in decline, many fishers are now targeting this unprotected group of fish; yet, some Bahamian fishers lack understanding about the role of parrotfish in the ecosystem [50], and it is possible that educational and scientific messages may have an impact on their behavior toward parrotfish (e.g., the knowledge deficit model [22].…”

Section: Study Objectivesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…See Callwood (2021 [50]) for a complete examination of this burgeoning fishery across The Bahamas that threatens parrotfish populations and hinders their important role in maintaining the health of coral reefs. With other fisheries in decline, many fishers are now targeting this unprotected group of fish; yet, some Bahamian fishers lack understanding about the role of parrotfish in the ecosystem [50], and it is possible that educational and scientific messages may have an impact on their behavior toward parrotfish (e.g., the knowledge deficit model [22]. In contrast, social marketing best practices suggest that behavior-focused messages, irrespective of the amount of information, may have even more of an impact on behavioral intention [15].…”

Section: Study Objectivesmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Does Active or Informative Messaging Result in Greater Conservation Engagement?

Maynard,

Torchalski,

Gezon

et al. 2024

Conservation

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Strategic communication can motivate target audiences to take conservation action. Yet, whether audiences are motivated by more information or more influential visuals is unclear. Using online surveys, we compared different visual communication strategies using text, graphics, and photographs for encouraging parrotfish-friendly conservation behaviors to see which one yields greater emotion, interest, and intended action. Experiment 1 explored whether a scientific-oriented poster would be more or less effective in promoting conservation behaviors than a graphical poster using social marketing techniques. Experiment 2 contrasted the two posters with a photograph and graphic icons without text against a blank control. Results revealed how engaging visuals can inspire reactions and behavioral intentions. The posters both elicited positive reactions, but with less text and content to process, the social marketing poster more efficiently inspired the desired reactions. This work highlights that conservation communications can strategically use psychology and graphics to efficiently inspire desired actions.

show abstract

Section: Study Objectivesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Study Objectivesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Does Active or Informative Messaging Result in Greater Conservation Engagement?

Maynard,

Torchalski,

Gezon

et al. 2024

Conservation

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Although marine reserves simplify the management of reef fisheries, the challenges of their establishment mean that tools such as herbivore-specific fishing bans should also be considered (Rogers et al, 2015), especially with parrotfish fisheries increasing in the Caribbean (Callwood, 2021). For example, in 2009 Belize established a national ban on catching herbivorous fish and, despite some parrotfishes still being found in markets, the ban appears to have reduced harvest (Cox et al, 2013).…”

Section: Herbivorous Fishes: Management Rather Than Mariculturementioning

confidence: 99%

Restoration of herbivory on Caribbean coral reefs: are fishes, urchins, or crabs the solution?

Butler,

Duran,

Feehan

et al. 2024

Front. Mar. Sci.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

That coral reefs are in decline worldwide, particularly in the Caribbean, will come as no surprise. This decades-long decline has reached a potential tipping point as the weight of the effects of climate change have come decidedly to bear on the planet’s most diverse marine ecosystem. Whether coral reefs can persist without restorative intervention is debatable, which has prompted a surge in coral reef restoration projects focusing primarily on the cultivation and transplantation of coral fragments onto degraded reefs. But that widespread approach does little to address the underlying causes of coral loss, one of which is the proliferation of macroalgae that are deleterious to corals. An emerging solution to this problem is the enhancement of herbivory on coral reefs through improved management of herbivores, artificial enhancement of herbivore settlement, or their mariculture and subsequent stocking. This review explores the nuances of the biology of well-studied Caribbean coral reef herbivores (fishes, sea urchins, and crabs) as it relates to their mariculture and investigates the promise of herbivore stocking onto coral reefs as a restoration strategy. Fish, urchin, and crab herbivores differ appreciably in life histories, which confers advantages and disadvantages with respect to their mariculture and effectiveness as grazers. Mariculture of herbivorous marine fish for reef restoration is essentially non-existent so the reestablishment of grazing fish abundance on coral reefs focuses primarily on their protection through fishery regulations, but only at a few locations in the Caribbean. Mariculture of herbivorous urchins and crabs for restoration purposes is in its infancy, but promising especially for crabs whose larval rearing is less difficult. Perhaps the biggest challenge for the mariculture of either taxon is “scaling-up” from research settings to large-scale mariculture needed for stocking. Numerous studies extol the benefits of functional redundancy and complementarity for coral reef ecosystem stability, but whether this principal applies to the restoration of grazing function is untested. We identify gaps in our knowledge of best practices for the restoration of grazing function on coral reefs and conclude with some practical guidance on the establishment of targets for macroalgal reduction, along with strategic advice on grazer stocking in a given reef habitat.

show abstract

“…Some activities, such as scuba diving by tourists, are often focused on high quality habitat where they can increase susceptibility to disease (Lamb et al, 2014). Certain community members, such as herbivores, have been previously shown to enhance recruitment and drive community structure across the ecosystem (Mumby et al, 2006;Ruttenberg et al, 2019) yet are facing increased threats from humans (Bellwood et al, 2011;Callwood, 2021) and can be repelled by tourist disturbances (Albuquerque et al, 2014). Future work that quantifies predation across a range of habitat degradation would be useful to forecast the implications in a changing environment, and patch reefs may offer the optimal experimental set-up.…”

Section: Conservation Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Piscine predation rates vary relative to habitat, but not protected status, in an island chain with an established marine reserve

Kough

Belak

2022

Front. Mar. Sci.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Establishing marine reserves can increase biomass and diversity relative to surrounding areas. However, such changes presumably alter species compositions, interactions, and associated demographic processes such as predation. We investigated relative predation pressure by fish inside and outside of a well-established no-take reserve using standardized predation tether units: Squidpops. We deployed Squidpops (N = 990) monitored by cameras to examine predation, as estimated by consumption rates, between paired seagrass and patch reef habitat sites proximate to the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park, a well-enforced no-take Bahamian reserve since 1986. Surprisingly, there was no significant park effect on consumption nor observed diversity. Significantly higher consumption rates were found at patch reef sites relative to seagrass sites, occurred in association with higher fish diversity and with longer soak times. Observed fish diversity was predicted by habitat and distance inshore with more species found on patch reefs and further from the deep water Exuma Sound. Recorded fish bites were positively associated with patch reef habitat, with reef dwelling fish, and increased as the species became more commonly encountered. Deployment-specific factors, including temperature, depth, and time of day had little impact on measured predation, an expected result as the experiments occurred in similar locations over a fine temporal scale. In our experiment, ecosystem-based factors outweighed the place-based management effects that we expected from being within the oldest well-enforced no-take marine reserve in the Caribbean versus the surrounding actively fished waters. Despite well-documented increases in abundances across trophic levels from primary consumers to apex predators within the reserve, predation rates were not significantly different than adjacent areas. Evaluating the efficacy of a marine reserve in protecting vital ecosystem processes requires studies beyond abundance and diversity surveys. By focusing on predation on two of the most ubiquitous habitats throughout the region and on common species, rather than on exceptional sites and charismatic species, we reveal a process that seems relatively unchanged by strict marine conservation management.

show abstract

Examining the development of a parrotfish fishery in The Bahamas: Social considerations & management implications

Cited by 5 publications

References 42 publications

Does Active or Informative Messaging Result in Greater Conservation Engagement?

Does Active or Informative Messaging Result in Greater Conservation Engagement?

Restoration of herbivory on Caribbean coral reefs: are fishes, urchins, or crabs the solution?

Piscine predation rates vary relative to habitat, but not protected status, in an island chain with an established marine reserve

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About