Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Current and Future Sustainability of Island Coral Reef Fisheries

2007; Elsevier BV; Volume: 17; Issue: 7 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/j.cub.2007.02.054

1879-0445

Katie Newton, Isabelle M. Côté, Graham M. Pilling, Simon Jennings, Nicholas K. Dulvy,

Coastal and Marine Management

Overexploitation is one of the principal threats to coral reef diversity, structure, function, and resilience [1McClanahan T.R. The near future of coral reefs.Environ. Conserv. 2002; 29: 460-483Google Scholar, 2Jackson J.B.C. Kirby M.X. Bergoer W.H. Bjorndal K.A. Botsford L.W. Bourque B.J. Bradbury R.H. Cooke R. Erlandson J. Estes J.A. et al.Historical overfishing and the recent collapse of coastal ecosystems.Science. 2001; 293: 629-637Crossref PubMed Scopus (4376) Google Scholar]. Although it is generally held that coral reef fisheries are unsustainable [3Bellwood D.R. Hughes T.P. Folke C. Nystrom M. Confronting the coral reef crisis.Nature. 2004; 429: 827-833Crossref PubMed Scopus (2131) Google Scholar, 4Pandolfi J.M. Bradbury R.H. Sala E. Hughes T.P. Bjorndal K.A. Cooke R.G. McArdle D. McClenachan L. Newman M.J.H. Paredes G. et al.Global trajectories of the long-term decline of coral reef ecosystems.Science. 2003; 301: 955-958Crossref PubMed Scopus (1345) Google Scholar, 5Pauly D. Christensen V. Guénette S. Pitcher T.J. Sumaila R. Walters C.J. Watson R. Zeller D. Towards sustainability in world fisheries.Nature. 2002; 418: 689-695Crossref PubMed Scopus (1947) Google Scholar], little is known of the overall scale of exploitation or which reefs are overfished [6Sadovy Y. Trouble on the reef: The imperative for managing vulnerable and valuable fisheries.Fish Fish. 2005; 6: 167-185Crossref Scopus (129) Google Scholar]. Here, on the basis of ecological footprints and a review of exploitation status [7Wackernagel M. Rees W. Our Ecological Footprint. New Society Publishers, Gabriola Island, British Columbia1996Google Scholar, 8Warren-Rhodes K. Sadovy Y. Cesar H. Marine ecosystem appropriation in the Indo-Pacific: A case study of the live reef fish food trade.Ambio. 2003; 32: 481-488PubMed Google Scholar], we report widespread unsustainability of island coral reef fisheries. Over half (55%) of the 49 island countries considered are exploiting their coral reef fisheries in an unsustainable way. We estimate that total landings of coral reef fisheries are currently 64% higher than can be sustained. Consequently, the area of coral reef appropriated by fisheries exceeds the available effective area by ∼75,000 km2, or 3.7 times the area of Australia's Great Barrier Reef, and an extra 196,000 km2 of coral reef may be required by 2050 to support the anticipated growth in human populations. The large overall imbalance between current and sustainable catches implies that management methods to reduce social and economic dependence on reef fisheries are essential to prevent the collapse of coral reef ecosystems while sustaining the well-being of burgeoning coastal populations.