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Parrotfish, Elkhorn and Staghorn Corals Subjects of Court Decision

A federal district court in Puerto Rico ruled recently that the National Marine Fisheries Service must do a better job monitoring the effects of commercial fishing on elkhorn and staghorn coral in the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. The decision indicated that the Fisheries Service violated the law by allowing fishing for “depleted” parrotfish and other algae-eating reef fish species without properly monitoring the fishery’s impacts on the staghorn and elkhorn corals that depend on healthy fish populations.

The Sept. 30 decision came in response to an Endangered Species Act lawsuit filed in January 2012 by Earthjustice on behalf of two conservation groups, CORALations and the Center for Biological Diversity, as well as Mary Adele Donnelly of the Sea Turtle Conservancy, the Center for Biological Diversity said in a press release.

“In the Caribbean, we have two big industries, fishing and tourism. Healthy coral reefs support both industries, but they have been dying for decades,” said Mary Ann Lucking of CORALations.

“Local communities are working with fishermen to successfully restore their reefs, farming corals on nurseries and transplanting them to natural reef in small protected areas,” Lucking said. “The ruling compels government to revisit the failures of the balanced fishery management approach in general versus an ecosystem based approach, like community designated marine protected areas.”

Elkhorn and staghorn corals are protected by the Endangered Species Act and serve as essential habitat for fish and other marine species. Parrotfish protect these corals by grazing on algae that otherwise would smother the reef. Removing the fish allows the algae to dominate reef systems and deny corals the space needed to grow.

Roy Pemberton, director of the Planning and Natural Resources Department’s Fish and Wildlife Division, said that there won’t be an immediate impact in the Virgin Islands.

“The National Marine Fisheries Service will go back and look at a lot of studies,” he said.

Pemberton said that while studies show what the fishermen are taking out of the territory’s waters, they don’t show what they are leaving in. He said that’s a crucial number when considering the issue.

Pemberton said that when it comes to commercial fishing, fishermen aren’t taking that many parrotfish because the market demand isn’t there. He said people prefer small fish, but because that’s what people see in the market, they assume larger fish like parrotfish aren’t there.

No one could be reached at the Fisheries Service because of the federal government shutdown.

In his decision, U.S. District Judge Salvador E. Casellas ruled that the Fisheries Service’s monitoring plan was invalid because, as a baseline matter, the agency didn’t even know how many parrotfish were present to begin with and, in any event, had not committed to monitoring the impacts of the fishery on the parrotfish themselves.

Under these circumstances, the court concluded the Fisheries Service had illegally failed to establish an adequate procedure for verifying whether its fishing plan was preventing excessive harm to the threatened elkhorn and staghorn corals.

“The corals in the Caribbean are dying – anyone can see it,” said Miyoko Sakashita, oceans director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “This decision means that there will be enough parrotfish around for a healthy coral reef that could then become home for even more precious reef wildlife.”

Donnelly expressed concern that the Fisheries Service continues to open new fisheries without safeguards for protected species.

Andrea Treece of Earthjustice said, “We know that corals face increasing threats from climate change and disease. Keeping a healthy, diverse population of algae eaters on the reef is crucial to keeping coral reefs healthy.”

U.S. Caribbean reefs already suffer from excessive algae cover, a situation exacerbated by scooping out the grazing fish necessary to hold back algal growth. This situation leads to what scientists call a “death spiral” in which the removal of algae eaters like parrotfish leads to increased algae and decreased coral, which in turn results in fewer fish and other reef creatures.

Not so long ago, elkhorn and staghorn corals were the main reef-building coral species in the Caribbean. According to the press release, these species have declined by as much as 98 to 99 percent since the 1970s thanks to stressors including overfishing, disease and climate change. As the corals decline, so does quality habitat for fish and other creatures.

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