The study was conducted from November 2010 through February 2011 and between November 2011 and January 2012 on shallow (~1 m below the surface at low tide, equal or shallower than 2 m at high tide), intertidal fringing reefs platforms (up to 800-m wide) along the Coral Coast (18º 13.05’S, 177º 42.97’E) of Viti Levu, Fiji’s main island. Many of the owners of traditional fishing rights along the Coral Coast have established small, customary no-take MPAs to improve and sustain their adjacent fishing grounds. The MPAs in this region are delimited by surface markings and enforced by local villagers, and they have been closed to all fishing activities since their inception (about 10 years). The only exception to this closure was a small experimental hook and line fishing research project that was conducted in the MPAs of Votua and Namada. In the non-MPAs, the main fishing targets are species of Acanthuridae (Nasinae), Epinephelidae, Labridae, Mullidae, and Lutjanidae. Permission for the research was granted by the Fijian Ministry of Education, National Heritage, Culture & Arts, Youth & Sports, which is authorized to approve field studies in Fijian waters. No animal collection or experimental procedures involving animals were conducted during the study, and no endangered species were recorded during our assessments.
To assess the effects of MPAs on fish assemblages, fish feeding group composition, herbivory rates, benthic cover, and coral recruit density, we compared three spatially paired MPA and adjacent, fished, areas (non-MPAs) associated with the villages of Votua, Vatu-o-lalai and Namada. Comparisons of fish assemblages inside and outside of closures are widely used for determining the effects of reserves, but it should be acknowledged that this approach does not reveal the state of an MPA relative to an undisturbed baseline.
The studied MPAs were established in 2002 (Vatu-o-lalai, Namada) and 2003 (Votua), and shortly after establishment, coral cover was low (~7%), and macroalgal cover was high (~35–45%) in both the MPAs and non-MPAs. All surveys and assays were conducted during the same season (austral summer) to minimize seasonal variation in sampling. The reef extends approx. 1 km from shore within each MPA and non-MPA, and all data were collected between 30 and 700 m of the shore (i.e., shoreward of the reef crest) parallel to the shoreline.
Fish feeding groups: The structure of fish feeding groups was assessed using a series of 10-min timed transects, which maximized the distance transversed in search of groups rather than being limited to a 30m transect where there may be no groups. A fish feeding group was defined as any aggregation of two or more fish in which individuals were observed feeding or biting a potential food source.
A total of 30 timed transects (n = 15 MPA; n= 15 non-MPA) were performed at each of the three village sites (n = 90 transects total). Transects were conducted within 2 h of high tide and equally distributed from 10:00 h–14:00 h. A group was counted if at least one individual in the aggregation was inside the transect area. For each feeding group, all individuals were identified to species, their total length (TL) estimated and placed into 5cm size classes. Fish lengths were converted to biomass using established length-weight relationships. For each transect, a snorkeler swam parallel to the reef crest for 10 min at a standard speed and recorded all fish groups within 2 m of each side of the transect. On each sampling day, five transects were deployed on the reef parallel to the shoreline. Adjacent transects were separated by a minimum of 20 m, and small surface floats and reef and shoreline landmarks were used to avoid resampling the same areas.
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