Fish escape behavior as a monitoring tool in the largest Brazilian multiple-use Marine Protected Area

• Published in: Ocean & coastal management 2018-02, Vol.152, p.154-162
• Main Authors: Benevides, Larissa J., Pinto, Taciana K., Nunes, José de Anchieta C.C., Sampaio, Cláudio L.S.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Environmental Protected Area Costa dos Corais; Flight Initiation Distance; Reef fish; Spearfishing
• ISSN: 0964-5691; 1873-524X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2017.11.029

Understanding the decision-making process of fish when they escape from approaching spearfishers has a crucial role in elucidating the management conflicts in reef systems. Here, we used the Flight Initiation Distances – FID metric to assess how the management strategies, including fishing and tourism reef sites, could distinctively influence the escape behavior of the target reef fish. This work presents the differences in wariness of three reef fish species with a distinctive history of catches by spearfishing, Epinephelus adscensionis, Acanthurus bahianus, and Chaetodon striatus, in a multiple-use Marine Protected Area (MPA) in the Brazilian Northeastern coast. Our findings demonstrate that the protection level has a consistent effect on wariness of the target species, but the use of tourism sites as a conservation strategy to fishing pressure could be controversial. Furthermore, the species-specific traits can clearly express how the risk perception varies among species and can simplify the understanding of flight measure results. Taken together with other data, e.g. quantitative data (biomass, abundance), changes in the fish behavior, such as escape decisions, may add important knowledge to the monitoring of marine protected areas, especially in the Brazilian coast where the effectiveness of these MPAs is often questioned. The use of FID measurements as a management tool could improve the monitoring policies in MPAs, and reveal reefs systems where human activities should be reduced or banned. Compreender as decisões que os peixes tomam para escapar da abordagem de pescadores subaquáticos tem um papel crucial para elucidar conflitos de manejo em sistemas recifais. Neste trabalho, utilizamos a métrica Distância Inicial de Fuga – DIF para avaliar como estratégias de manejo, incluindo áreas recifais utilizadas para pesca e turismo, podem influenciar distintivamente o comportamento de fuga de peixes recifais alvo da pesca. Este trabalho apresenta diferenças na cautela de três espécies de peixes recifais com distintos históricos de captura pela pesca subaquática, Epinephelus adscensionis, Acanthurus bahianus e Chaetodon striatus, em uma Área Marinha Protegida (AMP) de múltiplos-usos na costa nordeste Brasileira. Nossos resultados demonstram que o nível de proteção tem um efeito significativo na cautela das espécies alvo, mas o uso das áreas de turismo como estratégia de conservação contra a pressão de pesca pode ser controverso. Adicionalmente, característi