title: Restricted grouper reproductive migrations support community-based management.
abstract: Conservation commonly requires trade-offs between social and ecological goals. For tropical small-scale fisheries, spatial scales of socially appropriate management are generally small-the median no-take locally managed marine area (LMMA) area throughout the Pacific is less than 1 km(2). This is of particular concern for large coral reef fishes, such as many species of grouper, which migrate to aggregations to spawn. Current data suggest that the catchment areas (i.e. total area from which individuals are drawn) of such aggregations are at spatial scales that preclude effective community-based management with no-take LMMAs. We used acoustic telemetry and tag-returns to examine reproductive migrations and catchment areas of the grouper Epinephelus fuscoguttatus at a spawning aggregation in Papua New Guinea. Protection of the resultant catchment area of approximately 16 km(2) using a no-take LMMA is socially untenable here and throughout much of the Pacific region. However, we found that spawning migrations were skewed towards shorter distances. Consequently, expanding the current 0.2 km(2) no-take LMMA to 1-2 km(2) would protect approximately 30-50% of the spawning population throughout the non-spawning season. Contrasting with current knowledge, our results demonstrate that species with moderate reproductive migrations can be managed at scales congruous with spatially restricted management tools.
authors.affiliation: Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies , James Cook University , Townsville, Queensland 4811, Australia.
authors.forename: Peter A
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-9153-5638
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Waldie
authors.affiliation: Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland 4811, Australia; CRIOBE-USR 3278, CNRS-EPHE-UPVD and Laboratoire d'Excellence 'CORAIL', 58 Avenue Paul Alduy, Perpignan Cedex 66860, France.
authors.forename: Glenn R
authors.initials: GR
authors.lastname: Almany
authors.affiliation: Red Sea Research Center, Division of Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering , King Abdullah University of Science and Technology , Thuwal 23955, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Tane H
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Sinclair-Taylor
authors.affiliation: Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland 4811, Australia; Indo-Pacific Division, The Nature Conservancy, South Brisbane, Australia.
authors.forename: Richard J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Hamilton
authors.affiliation: Kavieng Field Office, The Nature Conservancy , Kavieng, Papua New Guinea.
authors.forename: Tapas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Potuku
authors.affiliation: Red Sea Research Center, Division of Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal 23955, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; Marine Spatial Ecology Laboratory and Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, School of Biological Sciences, University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland 4072, Australia.
authors.forename: Mark A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Priest
authors.affiliation: MarAlliance , PO Box 283, San Pedro, Ambergris Caye, Belize.
authors.forename: Kevin L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Rhodes
authors.affiliation: Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies , James Cook University , Townsville, Queensland 4811, Australia.
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Robinson
authors.affiliation: Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies , James Cook University , Townsville, Queensland 4811, Australia.
authors.forename: Joshua E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Cinner
authors.affiliation: Red Sea Research Center, Division of Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering , King Abdullah University of Science and Technology , Thuwal 23955, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Michael L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Berumen
keywords: Epinephelidae; acoustic telemetry; fish spawning aggregation; marine protected areas; marine reserve; movement ecology