According to a new study of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef marine reserves where fishing is completely banned shows a rapid comeback of the exploited fish species. The researchers found that coral trout, the most prized for commercial and recreational hook-and-line fisheries in Australia, have bounced back in no-take reserves compared to fished sites in two years or less.
Study author Garry Russ of James Cook University in Queensland, told that it was surprise to see increase in coral trout density of 31 percent to 68 percent in such a short time. He told that the study find a big surprise with a rapid increase in multiple large reserves spread over 1000 km offshore and 700 km inshore. This represents a positive and unprecedented response to reserve protection.
According to the study the coral trout numbers were significantly higher in no-take reserves than in sites that remained open to fishing in four of five offshore regions and two of three inshore regions of the Great Barrier Reef. It also revealed that the findings are probably due to decreased fishing mortality inside the new reserves, rather than increased fishing outside.
