Paper 3: Exploitation of Reef Resources: Grouper and other Food Fishes - By Hassan Shakeel and Hudha Ahmed, Marine Research Section, Ministry of Fisheries and Agriculture Malé, Republic of Maldives

ABSTRACT

Exploitation of reef resources in the Maldives has become an important component of the country's fisheries sector. Two forms of reef fish fisheries are recognised: the general reef fish fisheries, targeting at a large number of different commercial species; and grouper fishery, targeting at commercial grouper species. Both of these fisheries are expanding today.

The developing new fisheries pose two main threats: over exploitation of resources and conflicts among resource users. To address the consequences of fisheries diversification, intensification, and interactions with other resource users, fisheries management has become a necessity.

The total annual yield of all commercially valuable reef fish from the Maldives has been estimated at roughly 30,000t ± 13,000t. The estimated fish catch was 14,000t in 1994. The reef fish resources, therefore, seemed to be underfished. The maximum sustainable yield of grouper has been estimated at 1,800t/year.

To come up with recommendations for developing and managing reef fish fisheries, the available qualitative and quantitative information has been analysed in the present scenario of expanding reef fish fisheries, and increasing competition for the reef resources among different interest groups. For the general reef fish fisheries, it has been recommended to inform Ministry of Fisheries and Agriculture when starting new commercial fisheries, increase awareness of fishermen on the environment, identify the allowable gear for reef fishing, enforce the existing rules and regulations, and review the customary management laws. For the grouper fishery it has been recommended to impose a minimum commercial size limit of 12 inches and 16 inches for the medium and large size groups offish, maintain the fishery below the maximum sustainable yield, keep some areas temporarily closed and open for fishing, and do experimental aquaculture of groupers. Improving the collection of statistics is a common recommendation for both fisheries.

1. INTRODUCTION

Exploitation of marine resources has intensified in the Maldives in the last ten years. Tuna still being the dominant fishery, other existing fisheries have increased in scale and new ones have started. In addition to fish, other reef organisms are also being commercially exploited. Reef fish fishery, which remained subsistence for a long time, has now developed to a commercial scale. A recent development is fishing for some species of grouper to export them live or fresh.

Today, marine resources are being shared by two important economic sectors, fisheries and tourism. The investment of private sector on small scale fisheries is increasing, particularly on the exploitation of reef fish. These small scale fisheries, which are supplementary to tuna fishery, have considerable social and economic benefits. These activities provide additional employment for the fishermen during tuna fishing off-season or when tuna fishing is poor. If the supplementary opportunities are not there, fishermen have to look for non-fishery employment during such times, often at heavily populated Malé. As the exploitation of reef resources is expanding both in terms of variety and quantity, reef-based tourism is also developing bringing a considerable amount of foreign currency into the country. Diving, snorkeling and fishing on reefs have become major tourist attractions. Thus fisheries and tourism - the two most important economic sectors - have to make compromises for their development.

The developing new fisheries pose two main threats: over-exploitation of resources and conflicts among resource users. Coral reef habitats in the Maldives are rich in variety, but poor in abundance of individual species - a characteristic common to many tropical habitats. Hence a commercial fishery wholly based on the natural stocks will soon be under the threat of over- exploitation, if the fishery is not being properly managed. Poor management also leads to conflicts among different interest groups or economic sectors sharing the common resources. Tourists do not like fishing from dive sites. On the other hand, fishermen believe that diving is a problem for baitfishery as baitfish get scared and scattered because of divers. Fishermen also hold the belief that removing groupers from reefs has negative impact on the baitfishery. As in the fisheries sector, within the tourism sector also there are antogonistic interest groups - such as divers and night fishing tourists.

To address the consequences of fisheries diversification, intensification and interactions with the tourism sector, fisheries, management has become a necessity. Fisheries management calls for collaborative efforts on the part of policymakers, researchers, administrators and island communities. In formulating management strategies, consideration has to be given to the fact that fisheries management involves imposing some form of restriction or the other on the age-old free access to resources, dealing with antagonistic interest groups, causing a possible imbalance to the livelihood of the people. The aim of this paper is to analyse the status of reef fish fisheries and suggest recommendations to develop and manage them.

2. METHODS

To come up with recommendations for developing and managing reef fish fisheries, the available qualitative and quantitative information has been analysed in the present scenario of widening reef fish fisheries, and increasing competition for the reef resources among different interest groups.

The source of fisheries catch statistics was the Economic Planning and Co-ordination Unit of Ministry of Fisheries and Agriculture, MOFA (1995)

Total stock assessment of reef fish presented in this paper was done following an exploratory fishing survey carried out in the Maldives in two phases: phase I, during 1987-1988 (Van der Knaap et al., 1991); phase II, during 1989-1991 (Anderson et al., 1992). The stock figures given for groupers were calculated by Shakeel (1994), based on the results of the exploratory survey.

The maturity lengths of groupers were established assuming that a fish gerally spawns for the first time at half the maximum length it attains (Maicev et al., 1981). The maximum total lengths of groupers as reported by Heemstra and Randall, (1993) were used to estimate the theoretical maturity lengths. The theoretical maturity lengths of grouper species were compared with the actual lengths of the smallest matured individuals (Female, maturity stage³) caught during the exploratory fishing survey (Table 4). The length at maturity was assumed as minimum size that can be caught in commercial fishing as this size will allow the fish to gain considerable biomass and spawn at least once in its life. Groupers recorded from Maldives were categorized into small, medium, large and extra-large size groups; and for each group, the average maturity length was calculate to suggest it as the minimum commercial size for the group members. When grouped like this, all commercial and few non-commercial species fell into the medium and large size groups.

Fishermen will be able to distinguish the members of one commercial group from those of the other, making clear distinction between the two groups. Having minimum number of groups easily distinguishable commercial groups is an important condition if a size-limited fishery is to be practically carried out.

3. REEF FISH FISHERIES

3.1 General Reef Fishery

For Maldivian fishermen, reef fishing often means fishing for any fish other than tuna. This traditional definition of reef fishing arose as a result of the ever dominating nature of the tuna fishery. Tuna has always been the major export product, and once it was the only major source of income generation through out the country. Therefore, tuna catch was reserved for sale as Maldives fish, and other fish were used for family consumption. Thus, based on the way the end products were used, two major fisheries were recognised: fishing for tuna for export and fishing for other fish for domestic non-commercial consumption. As the bulk of domestic consumption constituted mainly reef, fishing for domestic consumption and fish caught in this fishery began to be called reef fishing and reef fish respectively, although the catch of the fishery contained offshore fish and inshore pelagic fish. When an oceanic species, for example dolfinfish, is referred to as a reef fish, the meaning is not that it lives in the reef habitat, but that it belongs to the domestic consumption category.

This definition of reef fishery is getting outdated now as the traditional reef fish category is gaining equal importance as tuna. Early reef fish statistics was grouped into tuna and reef fish categories based on the traditional definition of reef fish. Although presently some large pelagic fish have been removed from the category that is generally assumed as reef fish, the category is still a mixture of demersal reef fish and non-reef fish species. Please note that in this paper also the mixed group has been referred to as reef fish

Commercial reef fishing is often carried out using handline from mechanised and sailing vadudhonis, mechanised masdhonis, and sometimes bokkuras with or without outboard engines. Longlining for reef fish is rare. Fishermen sell their catch to the island families, tourist resorts or salt and dry the catch to sell to exporters. The catch consists mainly of snappers (Luthjanidae), emperors (Lethrinidae), groupers (Serranidae), jacks (Carangidae), and reef sharks. Reef fishing is done in all the atolls, but fishing is more widely carried out in atolls where tuna fishing is poor. In tuna fishing atolls, reef fishing serves as a secondary activity.

Until recently Maldives carried out reef fisheries on a very small scale. The establishment of convenient international sea and air transport connections between Maldives and other parts of the world, and development of tourism led to the widening of reef fish exploitation. From the 1970s there has been a significant increase in reef fish catch to cater to the local tourism industry and export markets. Reef fish catch in the period 1987-1994 also shows an overall increasing trend (Fig. 1). Reef fish catch is mainly exported in salted dried form, irrespective of species.

Fig. 1 Total reef fish catch 1987-1994.

But today, in addition to the salted and dried form, reef fish are also exported chilled and frozen. Unlike earlier practice, fisheries are now targeted at particular species; for example the grouper fishery. Fishing for high valued species and the discrimination between high-valued and low valued methods of processing is a step forward towards rational exploitation of reef fish resources.

3.2 Grouper Fisheries

Groupers are popular marine food fish of high market value in many parts of the world including Kuwait, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, China and Mexico. Their habitats are coral reefs and stony environments. Because of their voracious feeding habits and shallow habitats, these fish are easy targets for small-scale fishermen.

Groupers have also been farmed in the coastal waters of tropics and subtropics for a long time.

About 40 species of grouper of the subfamily Epinephelinae has been recorded from Maldivian waters (Randall and Anderson, 1993) and a few are currently being exported.

At first grouper fishing was concentrated in central atolls-Alifu, Vaavu and Meemu. The fishery has now spread to all over the country. Fishing is carried out in all types of fishing boats: rowing boats (bokkura), sailing or mechanised trolling boats (vadudhonis), and mechanised pole-and-line fishing boats (masdhonis). Two to three people go fishing in a Bokkura, 3-4 in vadudhoni, and 4-8 in masdhoni. The usual fishing grounds are island reefs, ring reefs and patch reefs. Handlines, the most widely used gear for reef fishing in the Maldives, are also used to fish groupers. Handlines are normally baited with livebait, particularly Gold band fusilier (Mas Muguran), Pterocaesio chrysozona. Though less preferable than livebait, cut pieces of tuna and big eye scad (Mushimas), Selar crumenophthalmas, are also used as bait. Daily catches of a sailing vadudhoni and a mechanised masdhoni range 50-80 and 100-170 fish respectively.

The grouper catch is kept alive in dhoni holds. Large tuna-fishing masdhoni hold groupers in the same manner as livebait holding. To maintain constant circulation of good quality water, seawater is allowed to enter through the inlet openings at the bottom of the vessel and water is bailed out by a petrol pump. Smaller vessels, vadudhoni and bokkura, circulate seawater in the same way as tuna fishing vessels. The main difference is that in this case, instead of using a mechanical pump, a hand pump or bailer is used to discharge water.

During the fish holding operation, which lasts from the moment of catch till transfer to cages (about 5-10 hours), the mortality constitutes about 5-20% of the catch. The groupers caught by the fishermen are sold live to exporters or their agents. These fish are stocked in cages for later live or chilled export. The estimated export of grouper in 1995 was about 1000t. (Fig. 2)

Fig. 2 Export of groupers

4. REEF FISH STOCKS

4.1 Total Reef fish Stocks

To have an understanding of reef fish resources, a two phased exploratory fishing survey was carried out during the periods 1987-1988 and 1989-1991 (Van der Knaap et al 1991; Anderson et al 1992). North Malé Atoll was the target of the first phase, and Shaviyani, Alifu and Laamu were the targets of the second phase. Fishing was carried out from a modified 'second generation' dhoni, using mainly handlines and longlines. In each target atoll, the following major habitats were surveyed:

- the atoll basins;
- the shallow reefs inside and outside the atolls; and
- the deep reef slope outside the atolls (50-210m)

Using catch data from longline, Anderson et al (1991) calculated the standing stocks for atoll basins and deep reef slopes. The standing stock figures were then converted into potential maximum sustainable yields using Gulland's formula. The maximum sustainable yield for shallow reef habitats was calculated by applying reef fish yields from coral reef areas in other countries to the Maldivian reef situation (Table 1).

Table 1. Estimated reef fish stocks and sustainable yields in the major habitats surveyed (Anderson et al., 1992)

Habitat	Stock size	MSY (t/yr)
Atoll basins	1600,000 ± 80,000	24,000 ± 11,000
Shallow reef areas	?	5,250 ± 1,750
Deep reef slopes	5,800 ± 2,500	500 ± 100
Total	>200,000 ± 100,00	30,000 ± 13,00

The total annual yield of all commercially valuable reef fish from the Maldives has been estimated by Anderson et al. (1992) at roughly 30 000t ± 13 000 t. Catches of demersal reef fish in 1991 were estimated to be less than 5, 000 t per year. The reef fish resources, therefore, seemed to be underfished. However, it should be emphasised that this estimate is rather crude, so due caution should be exercised in using it.

4.2 Grouper Stocks

Based on the total reef fish and grouper catch in the exploratory survey and using similar methods as employed by Anderson at al. (1992) to calculate maximum sustainable yield of reef fish, Shakeel (1994) did stock assessment of groupers. The maximum sustainable yields of grouper for the three major habitats are given below in Table 2. The total yield is broken down in proportion to reef areas of atolls, and shown in Table 3.

Table 2. Estimated sustainable yields of grouper

Habitat composition	MSY (t/yr)	Percentage of grouper in the survey catch
Atoll basins	810 ± 370	15.80
Shallow reef areas	960 ± 320	4.15
Deep reef slopes	60 ± 15	17.91
Total MSY	1800 ± 700	7.95

It should be emphasised that as total sustainable yields of reef fish, these figures are somewhat crude and serve only as guidelines. Hence due caution should be exercised whenever they are used.

5. DISCUSSION

Until recently Maldives has been commercially exploiting mainly pelagic fish that have no or little association with the reef, particularly tuna. In the past, reef resource exploitation was carried out on a small scale, and mainly on a subsistence basis. Therefore, the exploitation of reef resources posed no significant threat to the fisheries or the environment. Today the resources are being more intensively exploited for commercial purposes. Coral mining, one of the most ancient forms of exploiting reef resources, has expanded to meet the increasing demand for corals in the construction industry. The existing reef fisheries have also expanded to cater to both the local tourist and export markets. While the multi-species reef fisheries continue to expand, export-oriented species-specific fisheries, such as the grouper fishery, have started to gain importance. The increased commercial exploitation of reef resources have resulted in two major threats: conflicts among resource users and over-exploitation of resources.

Tourism sometimes finds itself in conflicting situations with itself and the fisheries sector. Tourism has created a huge domestic market for reef fish. Tourists prefer reef fish, while the majority of local people prefer tuna. "Dive-tourists" love to see the fishes freely roaming in the water, without hooks or lines projecting from their mouths. Night fishing tourists would like to celebrate their successful fishing excursion with barbecues. "Dive-tourists" complain about groupers, aquarium fish and reef sharks being caught from popular dive sites. On the other hand fishermen complain that they are disturbed by divers during reef fishing or baitfishing.

Although the reef fish resources seem in general to be underfished, some fish species (for example groupers), and other organisms (such as sea cucumbers), are under the threat of overexploitation. The grouper fishery, which started in the central atolls, has now spread to all over the country. This fishery has already started to show signs of overfishing: relatively poor catch, higher price offers, and quick shifting of fishing operations from one atoll to the other. The estimated export of grouper in 1995 was about 1 000t. Assuming that there was a mortality rate of 20% both during fish holding in dhonis and cages, an export figure of 1000t represents a total catch of 1600t in 1995. Taking into account the crude nature of the maximum sustainable yield (MSY) of 1800t/year and the requirement that this yield should be tapped from all over the country, it can be concluded the fishery reached MSY in 1995. Up to 1995 the fishery was mainly in the central atolls. This region must have experienced a very high fishing pressure, and it now urgently requires a crop rest. Therefore it is advisable to close these atolls for at least one year and impose a minimum size restriction on the fishery.

One reason for fast stock depletion of reef resources is the small stock size of individual species. Coral reef environments are generally rich in variety, but poor in abundance of individual species. Therefore, with its small abundance, a particular species or genus cannot support an unmanaged commercial fishery The giant clam and sea cucumber fishery have shown us this reality.

Table 3. Breakdown of potential yields from the three zones

A. Northern atolls
Geographical atoll	Shallow reef area		Atoll basin		Deep reef slope
	Area (km)	Potential yield (t/yr)	Area (km)	Potential yield (t/yr)	Area (km)	Potential yield (t/yr)
Ihavandippolhu	55	14	220	10	70	1.5
Thila-Miladhunmadulu	370	97	3510	163	410	9.07
Makunudhoo	50	13	75	3	70	1.54
Alifushi	3	0.79	-	-	10	0.22
N. Maalhosmadulu	180	47	1000	46	170	3.76
C. Maalhosmadulu	26	7	115	5	60	1.33
S. Maalhosmadulu	175	46	770	36	130	2.88
Faadippolhu	90	24	600	28	120	4.65
Goidhoo	40	11	65	3	45	1
Total	989	260	6355	294	1085	25.95
B. Central atolls
Kaashidhoo	5	1	-	-	15	0.32
Gaafaru	20	4	65	2	40	0.87
N. Malé	270	60	1250	40	170	3.71
S. Malé	120	27	430	14	100	2.19
Thoddu	2	0.44	-	-	10	0.22
Rasdhoo	19	4	40	1	30	0.66
Ari	385	117	1880	289	220	5
Felidhoo	290	64	810	25	170	3.72
Wattaru	24	5	25	0.79	30	0.66
Mulaku	213	47	745	23	140	3.06
N. Nilandhe	188	42	420	13	100	2.19
S. Nilandhe	175	39	540	17	110	2.4
Total	1711	410.44	6205	424.79	1135	25
A. Northern atolls
Kolhumadulu	220	32	1450	1	160	3.3
Haddunmathi	180	27	680	3	130	2.68
Huvadhoo	365	54	2900	14	260	5.37
Foa-Mulaku	5	0.74	-	-	20	0.41
Addu	50	7	95	0.44	60	1.24
Total	820	120.74	5125	24.44	630	13

Table 4. Minimum maturity lengths of commercially important grouper species.

A. Medium size groupers

Species	Max total length reported in literature, cm	Max total length caught during exploratory fishing survey, cm	Min total length of matured fish caught during exploratory fishing survey, cm	Theoretical maturity length, cm
Aethaloperca rogaa (Forsskal, 1775)	60	43	28	30
Anyperodon lencogrammicus (Valenciennes, 1828)	52	44	26	26
Cephalopholis argus Bloch and Schneider, 1801	55	36	27	27.5
Cephalopholis miniata (Forsskal, 1775)	40	37	23	20
Cephalopholis sexmaculala (Ruppel, 1830)	48		24
Cephalopholis sonnerati (Valenciennes, 1828)	57	53	32	28.5
Epinephelus areolatus (Forsskal, 1775)	40	42	25	20
Epinephelus caeruleopunctatus (Bloch, 1790)	59			29.5
Epinephelus chlorostigma (Valenciennes, 1828)	75			37.5
Epinephelus fasciatus (Forsskal, 1775)	40			20
Epinephelus longispinis (Kner, 1864)	54*			27
Epinephelus ongus (Bloch, 1790)	31			15.5
Epinephelus spilotoceps Schultz, 1953	31	46	23	15.5
Epinephelus macrospilos (Bleeker, 1855)	50*			25
Epinephelus melanostigma Schultz, 1953	33			16.5
Epinephelus miliaris (Valenciennes, 1830)	53	54	35	26.5
Epinephelus morrhua (Valenciennes, 1833)	73			36.5
Epinephelus octofasciatus (Griffin, 1926)	80			40
Epinephelus poecilonotus (Temminck and Schlegel, 1842)	63			31.5
Epinephelus retouti Bleeker, 1868	50			25
Epinephelus tauvina (Forsskal, 1775)	75			37.5
Gracila albomarginata (Fowler and Bean, 1930)	38			19
Mean	52.65	44.375	27.375	26.295
Standard deviation	15.277	6.566	4.240	7.273

*Total length calculated based on actual standard length

B. Large size group

Species	Max total length reported in literature, cm	Max total length caught during exploratory fishing survey, cm	Min total length of matured fish caught during exploratory fishing survey, cm	Theoretical maturity length, cm
Epinephelus fuscoguttatus (Forsskal, 1775)	95			47.5
Epinephalus polyphekadion (Bleeker, 1849)	75	58	39	37.5
Epinephelus flavocaeruleus (Lacepede, 1802)	80			40
Epinephelus multinotatus (Peters, 1876)	100			50
Plectropomus areolalus (Ruppell, 1830)	68*	60	39	34
Plectropomus laevis (Lacepede, 1801)	125	82	62	62.5
Plectropomus pessuliferus pessuliferus (Fowler, 1904)	63	59	37	31.5
Variola albimarginata Baissac, 1952	47	38	22	23.5
Variola louti (Forsskal, 1775)	81	58	41	40.5
Mean	83.25	59.166	40	40.777
Standard deviation	23.813	13.948	12.806	11.423

*Total length calculated based on actual standard length

C. Small size group

Species	Max total length reported in literature, cm	Max total length caught during exploratory fishing survey, cm	Min total length of matured fish caught during exploratory fishing survey, cm	Theoretical maturity length, cm
Cephalopholis aurantia (Valenciennes, 1828)	30			15
Cephalopholis boenak (Bloch 1790)	26			13
Cephalopholis leopardus (Lacepede, 1802)	20			10
Cephalopholis spiloparaea (Valenciennes, 1828)	22			11
Cephalopholis urodeta (Forster, 1801)	28			14
Epinephelus merra Bloch, 1793	32			16
Mean	26.33			13.17
Standard deviation	4.63			2.32

D. Extra large size group

Species	Max total length reported in literature, cm	Max total length caught during exploratory fishing survey, cm	Min total length of matured fish caught during exploratory fishing survey, cm	Theoretical maturity length, cm
Epinephelus lanceolatus (Bloch, 1790)	231	204**		115.5

**From MRS musium records

The peculiar characteristic of the Maldivian environment - rich variety and poor abundance - should be considered when developing reef fisheries. If reef resource exploitation is allowed to continue unmanaged, it will adversely affect fisheries and tourism. These sectors provide more than 70% of total government revenue, create a large number of jobs in the central and outer atolls, and attract foreign investments. Therefore, the reef resources need to be urgently managed so that reef fisheries develop in parallel with the tourism sector. In its development, the tourism sector has also to take into account the traditional dependency of the country on fisheries and other living marine resources. This is easier said than done.

The fisheries sector and intersectoral co-development is complicated by a number of issues, including insufficient resource knowledge, insufficient trained manpower, lack of specific statistics, lack of integrated management approaches, introduction of even short term management measures without causing an imbalance to the livelihood of the people, and the involvement of diverse interest groups.

Resource use conflicts and stock depletion problems are totally new to Maldivian fishermen, who have been fishing freely all over the country throughout their life. They need time and guidance to get used to today's changing situation.

6. RECOMMENDATIONS

6.1 General Reef Fish Fishery

6.1.1. Informing MOFA When Starting New Commercial Fisheries

At the present level of exploitation, there is still room to expand the traditional multi-species reef fishery. As this fishery is found all over the country and involves many species, the chances of localised overfishing of any one species are very small. On the other hand when a fishery targets a single species, it is possible to overfish the species quickly in the locality where the fishery has first started, as a new fishery tend to remain in its place of origin until it has become acceptable in other parts of the country. For this reason it is important that MOFA be informed when starting a new commercial fishery, particularly a single-species fishery. When MOFA have this information at the very beginning of the fishery, the Ministry can get ready to take management measures at the appropriate time. Under the present system of open fishing access to Maldivian nationals in the country's territorial waters, MOFA often gets to know about new fisheries at a very late stage. Often by that time urgent management measures are already required. For example, take the giant clam, and Napoleon Wrasse fisheries. Informing MOFA and getting the Ministry's consent about new commercial fisheries can be made a prerequisite to starting new fisheries. However, MOFA should see that this prerequisite does not discourage the starting of new fisheries and make clear to all parties that they start new fisheries at their own risk.

6.1.2 Improving Reef Fish Catch and Effort Data Collection

In the present system of catch and effort data collection, reef fish enters into the category "Fish other than tuna". If reef fish catch is required an estimate has to be made based on the data for the "other fish category". When we give high priority to reef fish stock assessment, we also should obtain reliable catch figures for reef fish to compare with the stock figures. Therefore, it is recommended to collect reef fish statistics separately so that we know the contribution of reefs to fisheries with some accuracy. This information is important to fisheries management and to decision-making such as allocating a particular reef in a region for diving or fishing.

6.1.3 Increasing Awareness

Reef fishing, or the exploitation of other forms of reef resources, involves some or other by-catch, or environmental damage. This by-catch and damages may be in the forms of undersized fish, giant clams removed with mined corals, or broken corals during baitfishing and lobster fishing. The undersized fish and clams can still survive and later contribute to fisheries if they are put back in the sea. To make the fishermen respect marine life and reduce the by-catch and environmental damage, it is necessary to increase fishermen's awareness.

6.1.4 Gear Restriction

It has been shown that handline is the most effective gear for reef fishing in Maldives. Traps, which offer the advantage of little damage to fish, break a considerable amount of corals during their operation. If a trap is lost, it will continue to deplete the resources by "ghost fishing". When developing and managing reef fisheries, MOFA should decide on the gear that are to be allowed for reef fishing.

6.1.5 Enforcing Regulations on Protected Dive sites

All fisheries activities except baitfishing with traditional methods have been prohibited in the protected dive sites. However, the enforcement of this and other rules still remains a problem. An effective mechanism of enforcement will bring about better harmony between the fisheries and tourism sectors.

6.1.6 Improved Co-ordination and Co-operation

Improved co-ordination and co-operation among government Ministries, and between the Ministries and private sector, are required to address challenging issues of fisheries development, and the management needs of today.

6.2 GROUPER FISHERY

6.2.2 Open and Closed Atolls and Regions; Totally Open and Closed Periods

For effective management of grouper fishery, the northern and southern atolls from Malé can be opened and closed on an alternating basis; when one region is open for fishing the other region can be closed for fishing at least for one year. During this crop-resting period, groupers will grow and reproduce, with only a small fishing pressure caused by general reef fishing.

Grouper fishing should also be restricted in atolls of the open region, based on their estimated sustainable yields. When fishing in an atoll has reached these figures, the atoll may be closed for grouper-targeted fishing for at least one year. This measure is aimed at preventing localised overfishing. If all the atolls in the open region have been simultaneously overfished, the open region also has to be closed. By this time if the previously closed region has not been opened, the whole country will remain closed for grouper fishing.

Another alternative of the open and closed measures is to close the whole country for grouper fishing for a definite period and reopen later, to be closed again in due time.

As the opening and closing of an area depend on the intensity of fishing, fishermen themselves can regulate the duration of the open and closed periods and the frequency of closing and opening by adjusting the fishing intensity.

6.2.4 Size Restriction

For commercial use, the removal of groupers less than the average maturity length of 12 inches from the medium size group and 16 inches from the large size group (Table 4) can be prohibited. The small and extra-large size groups contain no commercial species either because of small size or rarity. Catching a fish larger than 12 inches from the small size group will do no harm as me members of this group will get matured at the lenth of 6 inches. The extra-large group contains one very rare species that is not caught in commercial fishery. These two size restriction measures are expected to catch 80% of commercial and potentially commercial grouper species after spawning at least once in their life.

6.2.5 Aquaculture

Grouper aquaculture should be experimented with as a long term measure for increasing grouper production and as a tool for the management of the grouper fishery. The Marine Research Section of MOFA has already initiated such experiments.

9. REFERENCES

Anderson, R.C., Waheed Z., Rasheed M., and Arif A. 1992. Reef Fish Resources Survey in the Maldives - Phase II. Madras, India; Bay of Bengal Programme; 54pp.

Heemstra, P. C. and Randall, J. E. 1993 FAO species catalogue Vol. 16. Groupers of the world (Family Serranidae, Subfamily Epinephelinae). An annotated and illustrated catalogue of the grouper, rockcod, hind, coral grouper and lyretail species known to date. FAO Fisheries Synopsis. No. 125. Vol. 16. Rome, FAO. 382pp., 522 fig., 31 colour plates.

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