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Reef Resilience - Coral reef terms Category: Agriculture and Industry > Reefs and fish Date & country: 01/02/2014, USA Words: 69

Sustainable
Conducting activities in a way that can continue over the long term, as opposed to depleting resources over the short term.

Transect
Typically a straight line across an area along which ecological measurements are taken.

Transient Aggregations
Characterized by individuals that migrate over long distances and over a short reproductive season.

J Hook
Fishing hook shaped like the letter

Spent
Gonad condition after spawning, flattened and flaccid, most gametes already expelled.

Sperm Limitation
Selective fishing pressure that skews sex rations (typically selective removal of males) within the FSA.

Stakeholder
Any person with a vested interest in a the area or natural resource.

Subsistence
Conducting activities in a way that will sustain life of those affiliated with the activity (as opposed to exploitation).

Sink Area
The area to which eggs and larvae disperse and settle.

Site Fidelity
Returning to the same area over time.

Source of Seed
The area from which fertilized eggs and larvae are exported in sufficient quantity to maintain the local population and to supplement populations down current. (e.g., spawning aggregation)

Spawning Stupor
A change in behavior in fish while spawning. While they are still aware of their surrounding they often let divers or fishers come into close range while spawning.

Self Recruitment Level
The percent of larvae that return to the reef where they were spawned, or the proportion of young arriving into a local population that are products of local production.

Recruitment Success
Refers to the number of fish larvae per amount of spawning fish biomass that successfully establish themselves on a reef and contribute as individuals to the fish population. Because most reef fishes release their efforts into the pelagic environment, the larvae are subject to a number of factors such as

Ripe/Running
Gonad condition when eggs are hydrated (occurring within 12 hours of spawning and often visible by distended belly and/or leaking gametes).

Selective Removal
Targeting a specific size, age, or type of fish to remove from the population.

Protogyny
In a colonial or hermaphroditic organism having the female gonads or individuals mature before the male ones.

Recruitment Overfishing
Occurs when the spawning biomass of the population is reduced such that the number of larvae and recruits produced are not great enough to replenish the population.

Precautionary Approach
An approach that tends towards a cautious and safe management approach (especially when data are lacking).

Predictive Power
The ability to foresee conditions based on existing information.

Promontory
An area of seafloor or reef jutting out creating an elbow shaped reef.

Protogynous Hermaphrodites
Are species that initially mature and reproduce as females and subsequently alter their sex to reproduce as males. Grouper and wrasses, among other families, share this characteristic.

Pelagic Environment
Open ocean environments (as opposed to near reefs).

Oocyte
An egg at a stage before maturation.

Otolith
A calcareous structure found in the inner ear of fish and involved in orientation and hearing. In some species, distinctive growth lines can provide information on fish age because the otolith grows in proportions to body growth.

Patriarch Fishers
Fishers that typically have a unique and historical perspective on the location, timing, and composition of fish spawning aggregations, as well as the effects of fishing on FSAs.

Milt
Sperm and associated secretions.

Morphometric Measurements
The measurements taken of an animal pertaining to its outer structure and form (e.g., Length, width, fork length, weight).

Multispecies FSA
A Fish Spawning Aggregation containing multiple species spawning in the same area over time.

NGO
Non-Governmental Organization.

Migration Corridors
Many fish and large marine animals (i.e., whales, predatory fish, turtles, etc.) follow set routes when they migrate (for feeding, nesting, birthing, or breeding purposes) from one area to another. These routes are referred to as migration corridors.

Marine Tenure
Locally specified entitlements to marine territories and resources claimed and exercised by the

Marine Protected Area Network
An MPA network can include zones that are designed for different levels of use and extraction. For example, within the MPA network, no-take zones can be strategically placed to prohibit harvest. Multiple-use MPA zoning, including no-take areas, provides a way to accommodate multiple uses (recreational fishing, commercial fishing, tourism, etc.) and balances the trade-offs between sustainable use and conservation.

Marine Protected Area (MPA)
Any area of intertidal or subtidal terrain, together with its overlying water and associated flora, fauna, historical and cultural features, which has been reserved by law or other effective means to protect part or all of the enclosed environment (IUCN definition).

LRFFT
Live Reef Food Fish Trade; an international trade in live reef food fish with demand centers largely in Asia and source countries for preferred reef fishes in SE Asia, the western Pacific and parts of the Indian Ocean.

Macroscopic
Large scale.

Malthusian Overfishing
An expression that was coined to describe a situation that may occur when fishing levels are too intense for a fishery to be sustainable.

Hyperdepletion
Refers to a situation where catch per unit effort is actually underestimating abundance, i.e., fish abundance is higher than the metric indicates.

Hyperstability
Refers to a situation where catch per unit effort is overestimating abundance, i.e., fish abundance is lower than the metric indicates.

Indicator
An indicator is a measured quantity that can describe a certain aspect of a system. Changes in an indicator over time may be a sign of changes in an ecosystem.

Integrated Coastal Management
A continuous and dynamic process by which decisions are taken for the sustainable use, development, and protection of coastal and marine areas and resources (NOAA).

Growth Overfishing
Occurs when the rate of fishing produces a loss in biomass of the stock that is greater than the biomass gained due to growth. It is also used to describe the situation where too many small fish are being harvested from a stock, and the fish are removed before they reach a size at which the maximum growth and productivity would be obtained from the stock.

GSA
Grouper Spawning Aggregation.

Hermaphroditic
Containing both male and female reproductive organs.

Gonopore
The opening through which sperm and/or eggs are released.

GPS
Global Positioning System; An electronic unit that receives satellite signals that tell your specific position in latitude and longitude.

Gravid
Female animals carrying young or eggs.

Gonadosomatic Index (GSI)
The ratio of fish gonad weight to body weight; specifically (Gonad weight/Body weight) x 100 = GSI.

Gonochore
A species in which two distinct sexes occur.

Fecund (Fecundity)
Natural level of fertility (e.g., Most adult animals are sufficiently fecund to replace themselves many times over).

FSA
Fish Spawning Aggregation is an aggregation of fishes gathered for the purpose of reproduction, with individual densities higher than those normally found during non-reproductive periods.

Gamete
A reproductive cell (e.g., spermatozoa and ova).

Geomorphology
The study of the characteristics, origins and development of land-forms.

Extractive (Non-Extractive)
Taking something out of an environment versus leaving it in place. For example, food fishing is extractive, but catch and release fishing, snorkeling and diving, which leave the fishes in the environment, are non-extractive.

Ecotourism
Responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and sustains the well-being of local people. (The International Ecotourism Society).

Ecosystem Overfishing
Occurs when organisms are removed at such a rate that the composition of the ecosystem is changed significantly, often leading to detrimental effects on the entire system.

Destructive Fishing
Using cyanide, dynamite, or other methods that cause coral breakage to kill all reef life (including corals, other invertebrates, as well as unmarketable species) for short-term profits.

Economic Overfishing
Occurs when fishery resources are not being used in the most efficient manner. The limit of economic overfishing is commonly defined as the point at which fishing effort exceeds the total profit of the fishery, i.e., the amount of fish caught does not pay for the costs of fishing.

Circle Hook
Fishing hook where the hook tip is a 90 degree angle from the shaft which minimizes hooking fish in the throat or gut.

Connectivity
Describes the extent to which populations in different parts of a species

Catchment
An area that catches water.

Catch Per Unit Effort (CPUE)
A metric to estimate fish abundance; the number of fish caught per unit time/effort.

Catch Quota
A tool often employed by managers of large fisheries, intended to conserve the resource. A total allowable catch limit is set for a fishing season, and when fishers reach this quota, the fishery is closed. This method can produce a negative effect on the resource as fishers

Cascading Impacts
When one direct impact has an effect on something seemingly unrelated (e.g., Taking out all the herbivorous fishes from an area (direct effect) leaves the algae to grow unchecked and take over the reef leaving it uninhabitable for corals (indirect effect).

BOFFF
The abbreviation for Big Old Fat Fecund Female. BOFFFs are more biologically valuable due to their age and reproductive abilities, and removing them from the system is more detrimental than removing younger, non-reproductive fish.

Buffer Zone
The region near the border of a protected area; a transition zone between areas managed for different objectives (European Environment Agency).

Bathymetry
Measurement of the depth of the sea floor below sea level.

Adaptive Management
The process of changing a management strategy in response to measuring its success.

Apex Predator
A predator at the top of the food chain, upon which no other organism preys.