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Ecology

Recovering the potential of coral reefs

Nature volume 520, pages 304–305 (2015)Cite this article

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An analysis of fish declines in coral reefs shows that simple fishing limits and implementation of marine protected areas can be enough to support recovery of coral ecosystem resilience. See Letter p.341

Fishing has transformed today's coral reefs, but its effects can be insidious and hard to detect1,2. Defining conservation strategies without an appropriate frame of reference is therefore a serious challenge for coral-reef conservation. In this issue, MacNeil et al.3 (page 341) use a combination of data from protected, near-pristine and fished reefs to document the extent of fish biomass declines that have arisen as a result of fishing. Furthermore, they provide comprehensive evidence that simple forms of fisheries management can successfully restore fish-community biomass.

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Figure 1: How overfished is this reef?

Alex Mustard/naturepl.com

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Nicholas K. Dulvy and Holly K. Kindsvater are in the Department of Biological Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia V5A 1S6, Canada.,

    Nicholas K. Dulvy & Holly K. Kindsvater

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  1. Nicholas K. Dulvy
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  2. Holly K. Kindsvater
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Correspondence to Nicholas K. Dulvy.

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Dulvy, N., Kindsvater, H. Recovering the potential of coral reefs. Nature 520, 304–305 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature14384

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