Data from: Restricted grouper reproductive migrations support community-based management

Full description

Dryad data package consists of 5 files pertaining to the manuscript: 'Restricted grouper reproductive migrations support community-based management'.

(1) Raw acoustic data: This .CSV file contains the raw data downloaded from the acoustic array.

(2) Acoustic tagging data: This .CSV file contains the data describing Epinephelus fuscoguttatus fitted with acoustic tags at the Bolsurik FSA (fish spawning aggregation)

(3) Visitation and migration data: This .CSV file contains data collated from 'Raw acoustic data', detailing arrival, departure and residence at, as well as migrations to/from, the Bolsurik FSA during the tagging study.

(4) Stakeholder survey data: This .CSV file contains data collected during stakeholder surveys.

(5) Data analysis R script: This .R file contains annotated R script to perform analyses.

Abstract [Related Publication]: Conservation commonly requires trade-offs between social and ecological goals. For tropical small-scale fisheries, spatial scales of socially appropriate management are generally small—the median no-take locally managed marine area (LMMA) area throughout the Pacific is less than 1 km2. This is of particular concern for large coral reef fishes, such as many species of grouper, which migrate to aggregations to spawn. Current data suggest that the catchment areas (i.e. total area from which individuals are drawn) of such aggregations are at spatial scales that preclude effective community-based management with no-take LMMAs. We used acoustic telemetry and tag-returns to examine reproductive migrations and catchment areas of the grouper Epinephelus fuscoguttatus at a spawning aggregation in Papua New Guinea. Protection of the resultant catchment area of approximately 16 km2 using a no-take LMMA is socially untenable here and throughout much of the Pacific region. However, we found that spawning migrations were skewed towards shorter distances. Consequently, expanding the current 0.2 km2 no-take LMMA to 1–2 km2 would protect approximately 30–50% of the spawning population throughout the non-spawning season. Contrasting with current knowledge, our results demonstrate that species with moderate reproductive migrations can be managed at scales congruous with spatially restricted management tools.

The full methodology is available in the Open Access publication from the Related Publications link below.

Notes

This dataset is available from Dryad in comma-separated values (.csv) and R formats. Dryad data package: Waldie PA, Almany GR, Sinclair-Taylor TH, Hamilton RJ, Potuku T, Priest MA, Rhodes KL, Robinson J, Cinner JE, Berumen ML (2016) Data from: Restricted grouper reproductive migrations support community-based management. Dryad Digital Repository. https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.26j85