Impacts of lost fishing gear on coral reef sessile invertebrates in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary

The Florida Keys coral reef ecosystem supports multimillion-dollar commercial and recreational fisheries. The ecological effects caused by fishing gear that is lost when cut or broken after snagging on the bottom is a growing concern to managers and scientists. Few data exist, however, to assess the...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Biological conservation 2005-01, Vol.121 (2), p.221-230
Main Authors: Chiappone, Mark, Dienes, Helga, Swanson, Dione W., Miller, Steven L.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal, plant and microbial ecology
Applied ecology
Biological and medical sciences
Conservation, protection and management of environment and wildlife
Fishing gear
Florida Keys
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Marine
Marine pollution
Parks, reserves, wildlife conservation. Endangered species: population survey and restocking
Protected areas
Stratified sample design
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Summary:The Florida Keys coral reef ecosystem supports multimillion-dollar commercial and recreational fisheries. The ecological effects caused by fishing gear that is lost when cut or broken after snagging on the bottom is a growing concern to managers and scientists. Few data exist, however, to assess the impacts of lost fishing gear to benthic organisms and habitat structure. In this study, 63 offshore coral reef and hard-bottom sites were surveyed during 2001 to quantify the impacts of lost fishing gear to coral reef sessile invertebrates. Lost hook-and-line fishing gear accounted for 87% of all debris (N=298 incidences) encountered and was responsible for 84% of the 321 documented impacts to sponges and benthic cnidarians, predominantly consisting of tissue abrasion causing partial individual or colony mortality. Branching gorgonians (Octocorallia) were the most frequently affected (56%), followed by milleporid hydrocorals (19%) and sponges (13%). Factors affecting the impacts of lost fishing gear include sessile invertebrate density, the density of lost fishing gear, and gear length. While lost hook-and-line fishing gear is ubiquitous in the Florida Keys, less than 0.2% of the available milleporid hydrocorals, stony corals, and gorgonians in the habitats studied are adversely affected in terms of colony abrasions and partial mortality.
ISSN:0006-3207
1873-2917
DOI:10.1016/j.biocon.2004.04.023