A Report on the Findings and Recommendations of Effectiveness
of the West Hawai'i Regional Fishery Management Area
Prepared by Dr. William Walsh
Division of Aquatic Resources
Department of Land and Natural Resources, State of Hawai'i.
Note: All Figures and Tables are taken from this Report
In the November 2004 edition of this column I reviewed Scott
Michael's article "Seven Steps Responsible Aquarists Should
Know." In it he reported "Researchers from the University
of Hawaii, Hilo, compared the abundance of seven popular
aquarium fish between locations where collecting occurs and
areas where collecting is prohibited. They concluded that
in areas where fish collecting occurs, these seven species
are less abundant than in protected area. For example, at
sites where regular collecting occurs, there were 47% fewer
yellow tang (Zebrasoma flavescens) than in areas where
collecting was not allowed."
I added that I had quoted Brian Tissot, a Washington State
University marine ecologist, who reported more than three
years ago ("Something's Fishy," The Smithsonian, December
2001) that in Hawaiian waters targeted by aquarium collectors,
populations of eight of the most popular species had fallen
by 38 to 57 percent. (Advanced Aquarist Online Magazine,
March 2002).
The most recent data from Dr. William Walsh, marine biologist
of the state's Division of Aquatic Resources (DAR), indicates
that for the fiscal year 2004, more than 300,000 reef
fish were collected from Hawaii's reefs for the aquarium
trade - 84% of which are yellow tangs, yielding a figure
of well over 250,000 yellow tangs taken for the year. Other
species are taken in smaller numbers. Virtually all of these
fishes are taken from the West, or Kona, Coast of Hawaii,
where I live. Take totals started rising significantly in
the late 1980's and early 90's, both for fish taken and fishing
permits requested and issued.
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The depletion of reef fishes, especially yellow tangs, brought
strong negative reactions from other reef users, especially
snorkelers and scuba divers, leading to community pressure
to close the entire coast to all aquarium collecting. A petition
recommending this action collected more than 4,000 signatures.
In April, 1999, DAR held what turned out to be its largest-ever
local hearing, drawing almost 900 testimonies. Of these more
than 90% were in support of Fish Replenishment Areas (FRA's),
closed to aquarium collecting, and covering a minimum of
30% of West Hawai'i's coastline.
This strategy is close to one Scott recommends, stating
as one of his "Seven Steps" that marine aquarist should "Encourage
and support the development of reserve areas where no fishing
of any sort occurs. These types of locations are known as
Fish Replenishment Areas (FRAs) where adult fish can populate
vast tracks of coastline with their young.
Studies have shown that an FRA is an easy way to ensure
the preservation of fish
populations on coral reefs."
This fisheries management technique has been put into practice
here. In response to heated community pressure, approximately
one third of the western, coast of the Big Island of Hawaii
has been set aside as FRA's closed specifically to aquarium
collection. These FRA's are in addition to other partially
or fully closed marine management areas.
The location of the FRAs were established after consultation
with all concerned user groups, including aquarium fish collectors,
by a community-based Fisheries Management body, the West
Hawai'i Fisheries Council (WHFC) which was convened in 1998
and continues to function and on which I serve. The areas
were set aside in 1999, with a mandate that the University
of Hawaii conduct annual surveys of aquarium fish populations
and that a major evaluation of the effectiveness of the program
was to be done in 5 years. This major evaluation has just
become available to the public and is the basis for the information
reported in this month's column.
TABLE 1. Overall FRA effectiveness for
the top ten most aquarium collected fishes.
Common Name
Scientific Name
Mean Density*
Before
Mean Density*
After
Overall % Change
in Density#
Yellow Tang
Zebrasoma flavescens
14.7
21.8
+48%
Kole Tang
Ctenochaetus strigosus
31.0
33.3
+7%
Achilles Tang
Acanthurus achilles
0.24
0.30
+26%
Clown Tang
Naso lituratus
0.75
0.84
+11%
Chevron Tang
Ctenochaetus hawaiiensis
0.22
0.23
+2%
Longnose and Forcepsfish
Forcipiger spp.
0.73
0.77
+6%
Fourspot Butterflyfish
Chaetodon quadrimaculatus
0.03
0.06
+100%
Ornate Butterflyfish
Chaetodon ornatissimus
0.87
0.75
-14%
Multiband Butterflyfish
Chaetodon multicinctus
5.71
5.02
-12%
Hawaiian Cleaner Wrasse
Labroides phthirophagus
0.88
0.73
-18%
* Mean density = Number per 100 square
meters
Table 1 shows that the five major species collected, accounting
for 96% of the total reported catch, all showed substantial
increases in population density since the FRAs were established
five years ago. It is also clear that this management technique
is not necessarily a panacea.
Three species, two of them Butterflyfishes and the third
the Hawaiian Cleaner Wrasse have continued to decline even
in the protected areas. Kole Tangs and Chevron Tangs, the
latter the second most captured species have shown only modest
recovery. The same is true for the Forcipiger species.
Other studies have indicated that large FRAs with high initial
densities of adult fish and containing wide reefs with the
high coral cover critical for juveniles are essential ingredients
for successful population recovery.
The report concludes with a set of 19 Recommendations. These
include the maintenance of a dedicated monitoring program
with sites surveyed 4 times per year with two of them during
the summer juvenile recruitment period and the need to establish
species-specific strategies for rare and vulnerable species
such as the Flame and the Banded Angelfish. The report also
contains recommendations for the continuation and expansion
of community based resource management typified by the WHFC.
There is also a need for increased control over aquarium
collectors by establishing a limited entry fishery and demanding
increasing reliability of catch reports. The recommendations
also stress the necessity of recognizing ecological connections
and of feeding and resting patterns between deeper and shallower
water zones in the establishment of FRAs.
Dr. William Walsh and Hawai'i's Division of Aquatic Resources
are to be congratulated for producing a document rich in
detail and analysis on this important fisheries management
technique. It contains important specific direction and advice
for those, both fisheries management scientists and concerned
citizens of coastal communities who wish to participate in
the further utilization of the successful FRA strategy.
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