June 2005
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Reef's biggest fishing experiment nears completion
CRC Reef’s Effects of Line Fishing Project is nearing completion, after 10 years of experiments along the length of the Great Barrier Reef. The project is one of the world’s largest manipulative fisheries experiments, in which reefs are opened and closed to fishing for various amounts of time. “The experiment has provided new information about the reef line fishery and its important fish, which will help with management decisions,” said Dr Annabel Jones, who leads the experiment. The Effects of Line Fishing Experiment was conceived in the 1980s during discussions between managers and fisheries scientists. Groundwork was done during the early 1990s by several scientists, mostly funded by GBRMPA’s Effects of Fishing Program, and later CRC Reef. Since 1995, the team has studied how various amounts of fishing pressure affect fish populations in four clusters located near Lizard Island, off Townsville, off Mackay, and near the Swains Reefs. The reefs were either temporarily closed to fishing to examine whether fish populations recover, or temporarily opened to fishing to study the level of depletion, or left closed to act as a control. Four reefs that had been closed to fishing for the last five years were recently re-opened to fishers, in the final phase of the experiment, which is due to wind-up in 2006. The four sites opened are Unnamed Reef 14-133 near Lizard Island, Fork Reef off Townsville, Boulton Reef off Mackay, and Unnamed Reef 21-139 near Storm Cay. Results from the experiment show that the two main target species of the reef line fishery, the common coral trout and the red throat emperor, are more abundant, larger and older in areas closed to fishing than in adjacent areas that have always been open to fishing. The magnitude of these differences varies regionally. The experiment is providing important information about the effectiveness of ‘green zones’ and other management strategies. This will help managers to understand how fish stocks might change following the implementation of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Zoning Plan and the Queensland Coral Reef Fin Fish Management Plan last year. The information is also being used in computer models to assess the effectiveness of different management plans 25 or more years into the future. Dr Phil Cadwallader, Director of the Fisheries Issues Group at the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, said “this is a world class experiment, which has provided Marine Park managers and fisheries managers with valuable information on which to base management decisions.” The Effects of Line Fishing Experiment is a collaborative effort between CRC Reef, the Australian Institute of Marine Science, James Cook University, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries, and the fishing industry. For more information, visit www.reef.crc.org.au/research/fishing_fisheries or contact Dr Annabel Jones, CRC Reef and James Cook University, annabel.jones@jcu.edu.au |
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PO Box 772 Townsville
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