Limmon, GV, Masdar, H, Muenzel, D et al. (5 more authors) (2023) A cause for hope: largely intact coral-reef communities with high reef-fish biomass in a remote Indonesian island group. Marine and Freshwater Research, 74 (6). pp. 479-490. ISSN 1323-1650
Abstract
Context: The health of coral reefs is declining rapidly across the world because of anthropogenic impacts. In the mega-diverse Coral Triangle, the consequences of chronic overfishing and human use are worst near coastal population centres.
Aims: The remote islands and reefs in the centre of the Banda Sea (Indonesia) remain largely unstudied, but their distance from populated areas could provide protection from fishing.
Methods: We conducted the first visual census surveys of coral-reef communities at the uninhabited Lucipara group in the Banda Sea.
Key results: Sites showed medium to high coral cover and fish assemblages with high biomass, including abundant large predatory species. All sites exceeded the fish biomass conservation target of 1150 kg ha−1 proposed by McClanahan et al. (2015), by a factor of ~2–10. Benthic cover explained >50% of variance in fish abundance and diversity, with submassive corals, Dendrophyllia spp., and bare rock as key predictors.
Conclusions: Our results suggested that Lucipara’s reefs are among the healthiest in Indonesia, likely owing to their remoteness. However, this remoteness might also hamper policing against destructive fishing practices, highlighting a conservation gap.
Implications: Lucipara’s reef communities should be protected in a time of global coral-reef declines.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2023 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
Keywords: | biodiversity, conservation, Coral Triangle, fisheries, Indonesia, Lucipara, oceanic island, visual survey |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Biological Sciences (Leeds) > School of Biology (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 29 Jun 2023 11:12 |
Last Modified: | 29 Jun 2023 11:12 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | CSIRO Publishing |
Identification Number: | 10.1071/mf22075 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:200543 |