12th Pacific Science Inter-Congress, 8-12 July 2013
University of the South Pacific, Laucala Bay Campus, Suva, Fiji
Protected Herbivores Can Prevent Phase Shifts
and Strengthen Reef Resiliency
Fulori Nainoca1 , James Comley², Ron Simpson³, Rusiate
Ratuniata⁴
1
Institute of Applied Science, USP,
s95007302@student.usp.ac.fj
²Institute of Applied Science, USP, comley_j@usp.ac.fj
³Institute of Applied Science, USP, ronsimp@yahoo.com
⁴Institute of Applied Science, USP, ratuniata_r@usp.ac.fj
This research assessed the role of four locally managed
marine areas in protecting herbivorous fish populations,
which in turn help to control the amount of nuisance
brown algae, through their feeding. The results of this
research found that (1) herbivorous fish biomass was
significantly greater within the protected area than the
adjacent fished area; (2) higher level of grazing of algae
inside the protected area compared to the fished area;
(3) lower biomass of algae within the protected area as
compared to the fished area and (4) a significantly
strong correlation between algal biomass and live hard
coral cover. These results are important as many coral
reefs around the world, including Fiji, are experiencing
coral-algal phase shifts. There are two main reasons why
this shift occurs; nutrient enrichment and lack of
herbivores. Lack of herbivores is the result of
12th Pacific Science Inter-Congress, 8-12 July 2013
University of the South Pacific, Laucala Bay Campus, Suva, Fiji
overfishing, which drastically reduces the natural
processes of maintaining algal growth on reefs. From
this research we can conclude that small scale locally
managed marine areas are effective in protecting
herbivores hence, control algal overgrowth. Protection
of herbivores, therefore, is key to maintaining and
strengthening resiliency of Fiji’s coral reefs.
Key Words: (Phase-shift, Marine Protected Area, Herbivory,
Resilience)