Mateos-Molina, Daniel

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Assessing the effects of Mona Island marine protected area on coral reef fishes
(2011) Mateos-Molina, Daniel; Appeldoorn, Richard S.; College of Arts and Sciences - Sciences; Yoshioka, Paul; García-‐Charton, Jose Antonio; Aponte, Nilda; Department of Marine Sciences
No-take marine reserves or no-take zones (NTZ) have become an effective tool for restoring marine populations threatened by overfishing by allowing populations to recover from excessive extraction. In 2004, a NTZ was established within the Mona Island Natural Reserve. The objective of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of the Mona Island NTZ with respect to coral reef fish populations threatened by overfishing. We used a before-after-control-impact (BACI) design to analyze these effects. Fish abundance and biomass of selected species known to be fishery targets were used as indicators of NTZ effect. Belt transects and roving surveys were used to quantify fish abundances and sizes. Permutational multivariate analyses of variance (PERMANOVA) and SIMPER analysis were carried out to assess spatio-temporal changes between 2005/06 and 2009/10. Significant increases in fish abundance and biomass were observed, suggesting a NTZ effect for important fishery resources.