Protection efforts have resulted in ~10% of existing fish biomass on coral reefs

Iain R. Caldwell; Tim R. McClanahan; Remy M. Oddenyo; Nicholas A.J. Graham; Maria Beger; Laurent Vigliola; Stuart A. Sandin; Alan M. Friedlander; Bemahafaly Randriamanantsoa; Laurent Wantiez; Alison L. Green; Austin T. Humphries; Marah J. Hardt; Jennifer E. Caselle; David A. Feary; Rucha Karkarey; Catherine Jadot; Andrew S. Hoey; Jacob G. Eurich; Shaun K. Wilson; Nicole Crane; Mark Tupper; Sebastian C.A. Ferse; Eva Maire; David Mouillot; Joshua E. Cinner

doi:10.1073/pnas.2308605121

Protection efforts have resulted in ~10% of existing fish biomass on coral reefs

Iain R. Caldwell, Tim R. McClanahan, Remy M. Oddenyo, Nicholas A.J. Graham, Maria Beger, Laurent Vigliola, Stuart A. Sandin, Alan M. Friedlander, Bemahafaly Randriamanantsoa, Laurent Wantiez, Alison L. Green, Austin T. Humphries, Marah J. Hardt, Jennifer E. Caselle, David A. Feary, Rucha Karkarey, Catherine Jadot, Andrew S. Hoey, Jacob G. Eurich, Shaun K. WilsonNicole Crane, Mark Tupper, Sebastian C.A. Ferse, Eva Maire, David Mouillot, Joshua E. Cinner

UWA Oceans Institute

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

The amount of ocean protected from fishing and other human impacts has often been used as a metric of conservation progress. However, protection efforts have highly variable outcomes that depend on local conditions, which makes it difficult to quantify what coral reef protection efforts to date have actually achieved at a global scale. Here, we develop a predictive model of how local conditions influence conservation outcomes on ~2,600 coral reef sites across 44 ecoregions, which we used to quantify how much more fish biomass there is on coral reefs compared to a modeled scenario with no protection. Under the assumptions of our model, our study reveals that without existing protection efforts there would be ~10% less fish biomass on coral reefs. Thus, we estimate that coral reef protection efforts have led to approximately 1 in every 10 kg of existing fish biomass.

Original language	English
Article number	e2308605121
Number of pages	9
Journal	Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Volume	121
Issue number	42
Early online date	7 Oct 2024
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2308605121
Publication status	Published - 15 Oct 2024

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Caldwell, I. R., McClanahan, T. R., Oddenyo, R. M., Graham, N. A. J., Beger, M., Vigliola, L., Sandin, S. A., Friedlander, A. M., Randriamanantsoa, B., Wantiez, L., Green, A. L., Humphries, A. T., Hardt, M. J., Caselle, J. E., Feary, D. A., Karkarey, R., Jadot, C., Hoey, A. S., Eurich, J. G., ... Cinner, J. E. (2024). Protection efforts have resulted in ~10% of existing fish biomass on coral reefs. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 121(42), Article e2308605121. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2308605121

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title = "Protection efforts have resulted in ~10% of existing fish biomass on coral reefs",

abstract = "The amount of ocean protected from fishing and other human impacts has often been used as a metric of conservation progress. However, protection efforts have highly variable outcomes that depend on local conditions, which makes it difficult to quantify what coral reef protection efforts to date have actually achieved at a global scale. Here, we develop a predictive model of how local conditions influence conservation outcomes on ~2,600 coral reef sites across 44 ecoregions, which we used to quantify how much more fish biomass there is on coral reefs compared to a modeled scenario with no protection. Under the assumptions of our model, our study reveals that without existing protection efforts there would be ~10% less fish biomass on coral reefs. Thus, we estimate that coral reef protection efforts have led to approximately 1 in every 10 kg of existing fish biomass.",

keywords = "coral reef, fisheries, marine conservation, marine protected area, social-ecological",

author = "Caldwell, {Iain R.} and McClanahan, {Tim R.} and Oddenyo, {Remy M.} and Graham, {Nicholas A.J.} and Maria Beger and Laurent Vigliola and Sandin, {Stuart A.} and Friedlander, {Alan M.} and Bemahafaly Randriamanantsoa and Laurent Wantiez and Green, {Alison L.} and Humphries, {Austin T.} and Hardt, {Marah J.} and Caselle, {Jennifer E.} and Feary, {David A.} and Rucha Karkarey and Catherine Jadot and Hoey, {Andrew S.} and Eurich, {Jacob G.} and Wilson, {Shaun K.} and Nicole Crane and Mark Tupper and Ferse, {Sebastian C.A.} and Eva Maire and David Mouillot and Cinner, {Joshua E.}",

year = "2024",

month = oct,

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doi = "10.1073/pnas.2308605121",

language = "English",

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Caldwell, IR, McClanahan, TR, Oddenyo, RM, Graham, NAJ, Beger, M, Vigliola, L, Sandin, SA, Friedlander, AM, Randriamanantsoa, B, Wantiez, L, Green, AL, Humphries, AT, Hardt, MJ, Caselle, JE, Feary, DA, Karkarey, R, Jadot, C, Hoey, AS, Eurich, JG, Wilson, SK, Crane, N, Tupper, M, Ferse, SCA, Maire, E, Mouillot, D & Cinner, JE 2024, 'Protection efforts have resulted in ~10% of existing fish biomass on coral reefs', Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol. 121, no. 42, e2308605121. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2308605121

TY - JOUR

T1 - Protection efforts have resulted in ~10% of existing fish biomass on coral reefs

AU - Caldwell, Iain R.

AU - McClanahan, Tim R.

AU - Oddenyo, Remy M.

AU - Graham, Nicholas A.J.

AU - Beger, Maria

AU - Vigliola, Laurent

AU - Sandin, Stuart A.

AU - Friedlander, Alan M.

AU - Randriamanantsoa, Bemahafaly

AU - Wantiez, Laurent

AU - Green, Alison L.

AU - Humphries, Austin T.

AU - Hardt, Marah J.

AU - Caselle, Jennifer E.

AU - Feary, David A.

AU - Karkarey, Rucha

AU - Jadot, Catherine

AU - Hoey, Andrew S.

AU - Eurich, Jacob G.

AU - Wilson, Shaun K.

AU - Crane, Nicole

AU - Tupper, Mark

AU - Ferse, Sebastian C.A.

AU - Maire, Eva

AU - Mouillot, David

AU - Cinner, Joshua E.

PY - 2024/10/15

Y1 - 2024/10/15

N2 - The amount of ocean protected from fishing and other human impacts has often been used as a metric of conservation progress. However, protection efforts have highly variable outcomes that depend on local conditions, which makes it difficult to quantify what coral reef protection efforts to date have actually achieved at a global scale. Here, we develop a predictive model of how local conditions influence conservation outcomes on ~2,600 coral reef sites across 44 ecoregions, which we used to quantify how much more fish biomass there is on coral reefs compared to a modeled scenario with no protection. Under the assumptions of our model, our study reveals that without existing protection efforts there would be ~10% less fish biomass on coral reefs. Thus, we estimate that coral reef protection efforts have led to approximately 1 in every 10 kg of existing fish biomass.

AB - The amount of ocean protected from fishing and other human impacts has often been used as a metric of conservation progress. However, protection efforts have highly variable outcomes that depend on local conditions, which makes it difficult to quantify what coral reef protection efforts to date have actually achieved at a global scale. Here, we develop a predictive model of how local conditions influence conservation outcomes on ~2,600 coral reef sites across 44 ecoregions, which we used to quantify how much more fish biomass there is on coral reefs compared to a modeled scenario with no protection. Under the assumptions of our model, our study reveals that without existing protection efforts there would be ~10% less fish biomass on coral reefs. Thus, we estimate that coral reef protection efforts have led to approximately 1 in every 10 kg of existing fish biomass.

KW - coral reef

KW - fisheries

KW - marine conservation

KW - marine protected area

KW - social-ecological

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U2 - 10.1073/pnas.2308605121

DO - 10.1073/pnas.2308605121

M3 - Article

C2 - 39374392

AN - SCOPUS:85205763908

SN - 0027-8424

VL - 121

JO - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

JF - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

IS - 42

M1 - e2308605121

ER -

Protection efforts have resulted in ~10% of existing fish biomass on coral reefs

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