Spawning Aggregations of Coral Reef Fish in New Ireland and Manus Provinces, Papua New Guinea: Local Knowledge Field Survey Report

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Coastal fisheries

Many large commercially valuable species of reef fish aggregate in the hundreds or thousands at fixed sites during specific lunar and seasonal periods for the purpose of spawning (Domeier and Colin, 1997). Not surprisingly, fishers have often taken advantage of this predicable behavior, as exceptionally high catches can be made from spawning aggregations (Johannes, 1978). Although fishers have been aware of spawning aggregations for centuries, biological interest in them is far more recent (Colin et al., 2003). There is now a growing awareness among marine biologists and coastal managers of the need to understand the biological parameters of spawning aggregations and the effects of fishing these aggregations (Vincent and Sadovy, 1998; Levin and Grimes, 2002). This awareness has stemmed from the realization that: firstly, spawning aggregations of many commercially important species have often been rapidly over-fished, and secondly, the spawning aggregation phenomena represents a bottleneck in the life histories of many reef fish species, and their conservation andmanagement is critical for ensuring the persistence of the
opulations that form them (Sadovy and Vincent, 2002).