Influence of Coral Nursery Units on Fish Assemblage

Abstract

Since 2012, the Department of Science and Technology-Philippine Council for Agriculture and Natural Resources Research and Development (DOST-PCAARD) has been funding a coral reef restoration project, conducted by different universities in the Philippines. As part of this project, coral nursery units (CNUs) have been deployed to supply high quality coral nubbins aimed at reducing the dependence of coral fragments from wild coral populations. Changes in the reef fish assemblage were assessed after four months to find out whether fishes are attracted to and produced at the CNUs. Six CNUs were deployed at 30 m apart from each other. Fishes were counted and identified using the fixed-point technique. Fish density and species richness were compared before and after CNU installation. Both production and attraction of reef fishes were evident, notably, by the abundance of Apogonidae. The high concentrations of secondary consumers are the main evidence for the attraction of the CNUs. Our results indicate that CNUs can be used as an effective management and restoration tool for improving the local fishing yields.