New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research abstracts
Evidence for long-term site fidelity of snapper (Pagrus auratus) within
a marine reserve
TREVOR J. WILLIS
DARREN M. PARSONS
RUSS C. BABCOCK
Leigh Marine Laboratory
University of Auckland
P. O. Box 349
Warkworth, New Zealand
email: t.willis@auckland.ac.nz
Abstract Increases in the density of exploited species on
unfished reefs logically implies that some individuals are at least temporarily
resident, or show fidelity to a particular area. We tagged snapper (Pagrus
auratus (Bloch & Schneider 1801)) in the Leigh Marine Reserve, New
Zealand using visible implant fluorescent elastomer tags, recoverable by diver
visual sightings without the need to recapture the fish. Batch tagging of
snapper (n = 907) was done during an angling survey in June and December
1996, and individually coded tags were implanted by divers (n = 117) in
January 1999. Snapper tagged during both programmes were recovered on irregular
intervals from 1997 to 2000. There were 71 recoveries of batch tags within
500 m of their tagging sites, and these recoveries were still being made
>3 years after tagging. Of individually coded fish, 49 (42%) were seen,
sometimes repeatedly over several months, close to their respective tagging
sites. These observations included snapper as small as 23 cm fork length,
contradicting the commonly held impression that only large snapper take up
long-term residency on reefs. This preliminary evidence suggests that some
snapper exhibit site fidelity to areas only a few hundred metres wide, and in
the absence of fishing may occupy the same area for years.
Keywords implant microtags; marine reserve; movement;
Pagrus auratus; site fidelity; snapper
New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research, 2001, Vol. 35:
581-590
0028-8330/01/3503-0581 $7.00 (c) The Royal Society of New Zealand
2001
PDF file of entire paper: medium quality (777K); (scanned from paper original: notes about this process)
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