This includes reefs in the Greater and Lesser Antilles and Jamaica.
The Nassau grouper, once abundant throughout the Caribbean, has been so heavily fished it is listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
With the giants out of the picture, other fish have moved in, including the relatively unfished trumpet fish, the two smallest grouper species, graysby and coney; and two small snapper species, lane and mahogany.
The increase in smaller predators may lead to unanticipated changes in the ecosystem, Stallings said, and may even open the door to invasive creatures.
For example, the Pacific lionfish, a recent arrival to the Caribbean due to aquarium releases, has blossomed in the absence of big hunters.
Tough Situation
Most Caribbean countries do not have strong fisheries management programs that emphasize conserving big fish, Stallings said.
He also noted that the region's fishers, who are mostly small-scale, face a day-to-day demand to catch enough to feed their families and to sell enough to make a living, he said.
To show—rather than tell—Caribbean fishers about the importance of sustainable fishing, the Nature Conservancy has begun a fisher-exchange program, the conservancy's Kramer said.
As part of this program, Jamaican fishers recently traveled to Belize to see that country's well-preserved and predator-rich reefs.
"It's amazing what that does to a fisherman's perspective," Kramer said.
"You have to be working at the community level to instill change."
|
SOURCES AND RELATED WEB SITES
|
