WCS 3-Sentence Science

Reef Fisheries Get a Scorecard

June 21, 2019

Credit: Fakhrizal Setiawan

Each year, Wildlife Conservation Society scientists publish more than 300 peer-reviewed studies and papers. “WCS 3-Sentence Science” is a regular tip-sheet — in bite sized helpings — of some of this published work.

Here we present work by WCS Indonesia Science Coordinator Shinta Pardede on indicators of coral reef health:

1. Researchers used ten “ecosystem approach indicators” to assess the status of the management of five commercially important coral reef fish species living in a marine protected area — Karimunjawa National Park (KNP) Jepara, Central Java, Indonesia.
2. The results indicated seven of the ten indicators were at a moderate level, but tactical decisions are necessary to push indicators to achieve a better level.
3. Three indicators still received a poor status: fish abundance, fishing gear modification, and fishing capacity.

Study and Journal: “Using ecosystem approach indicators for assessing the ecological status of reef fisheries management in a marine protected area” from Biodiversitas
WCS Co-Author(s): Shinta Pardede , Science coordinator, WCS Indonesia

For more information, contact: Stephen Sautner, 718–220–3682, ssautner@wcs.org.