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

2024

Article référencé dans le Web of Science WOS:001352020000010

Caldwell I. R., McClanahan T. R., Oddenyo R. M., Graham N. A. J., Beger M., Vigliola Laurent, 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., Wilson S. K., Crane N., Tupper M., Ferse S. C. A., Maire Eva, Mouillot D., Cinner J. E.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2024, 121 (42), p. e2308605121 [9 p.] ISSN 0027-8424

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 similar to 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 similar to 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.

Sciences fondamentales / Techniques d'analyse et de recherche [020] ; Ecologie, systèmes aquatiques [036] ; Ressources halieutiques [040] ; Etudes, transformation, conservation du milieu naturel [082]

MONDE

Fonds IRD [F B010092095]

fdi:010092095