CRITICAL REVIEW: Effects of Human Population Density and Proximity to Markets on Coral Reef Fishes Vulnerable to Extinction by Fishing

The chosen article for this critical review has as principal theme the human effects on coral reef fishes vulnerable to extinction by fishing. The above said human effects was the population density, proximity to markets and modernization, taking into account that the fishing around is really intense since the population feeding is provided by 90% from the fisheries. It was also considered the gear used in fishing, analysing which equipment would give it less impact. The study was made in the Solomon Islands, and the aim was to calculate how much the growth of the population, the proximity to markets and the modernization in general, was negatively influencing the coral reef fishes. And for that was used a method of classification for the fishes vulnerability, separating than between high, medium and low vulnerability; and analysing every criteria in each category, and all the categories together as one. That way, the analyses of the study was made looking for impacts in the fishes with low vulnerability, impacts in the fishes with medium vulnerability, and in the reef fishes with high vulnerability to extinction. And at the end, it was analysed all the fishes together independent of the category.

The figure 1 was taken from the present reviewed article, being really important to help the reader understand the site of study, and the local area,

such as the proximity between the biological site, the coral reef area and the village. The image shows how close the coral reef are from the village, which implies the same closeness to the markets and fisheries. Understanding how social and economic factors, such as human population density, access to external markets, and modernization interact with fishing and habitat degradation to affect fish stocks is vital to sustainable management of coral reef fisheries (Brewer et al, 2012). So it is very important that we can understand how and with what intensity the growth and progress are actually regressing the nature, which includes the habitat of vital species that we need for life. The case study was really good written, since the language was easy to understood, with no much specific terms, being possible to anyone since graduated and experts in the subject to common (lay) people - to realise what it was talking about. It was not hard to get what the objective was, and the description of the methods were very good as well, letting us know exactly what was done, how it was done, and why was it done. The methods was divided into seven points, being them the: Study area explains the situation of the area, explaining where the place object of study is, and what is the situation of the exploitation in the markets around; Fish biomass and vulnerability - explains how the fishes was separated into categories according to its vulnerability; Site delineation - explains which sites of studies were chosen and why, telling that they linked the data about population and markets with the proximity of the coral reef, establishing the lines of the area of study; Distal drivers explains the utilization of the population growth, modernization and proximity to markets as influences on the decline of reef fishes biomass, being them the non-direct drivers (because they do not influence the situation directly, but causes something that will cause the decay for example the increase of fishing caused by the bigger population density);

Proximate drivers it showed the direct influence on the fishes biomass decay, which where the investments in the fishing gear that could lead to bigger decline of the species;

Habitat explains the habitat of the coral reef fishes conditions; Linking the data was the part when every information gets connected so we can analyse and understand which one interfere in one another, and how does this interference occur;

It was all very great explained, bringing all the needed details for us to understand what was being done, and how the results where reached. After the methods it was made the analyses and presented the results. At the end was made the discussion, showing the conclusion of what was done at the project, and in this part you could see that the aim was accomplished. Generally speaking, the study was well made, using the needed data to reach the aim properly, and as I said, was well written, including tables and graphics with good subtitles, making it in an easy way to understand, even for those who does not have a very large knowledge of the theme. It was shown very well the place of study, and all the chosen methods to get the results for the analyses; the aim of the project was to define how the coral reef fishes was receiving the negative impacts of the population, and the methods utilized was efficient, since the results showed how much reef fishes was being affected by each wanted aspect (population, modernization and markets). The article presented all the sources where the data was taken off, which gave to the study a lot more confidence, and also presented all the support literature, using nice articles and previous studies as base for the project. The species in this case study was chosen probably because of its importance in the area, since coral reef fisheries are a very important part for the local population survival. And because the reef fishes at the Solomon Islands are already vulnerable to extinction because of the frequent fishing. As said by Polunin & Roberts (1996), coral reefs are heavily impacted by direct human use, principally from heavy shing that in many countries, targets a large proportion of the total sh assemblage. The points analysed was taken into account because all of them can interfere positively or negatively in the studied species habitat, and any negative interference in an animals habitat, as known, can cause a very large

diminution of the species, leading even to extinction depending on what was the interference. In the results, however, it looked like the population density and the proximity to markets were the main negative influence in the decay of the biomass of the reef fishes. It was explained that it occurs because this both drivers causes effects in the habitat, and in the fishing. It is like a reaction, where the population and markets influence in the habitat depletion, and it causes the biomass of reef fishes to decline, since the growth of population increases the amount of markets in the area and consequently the demand for fishing. To try and guarantee a sustainable area, and the protection of the species, this case study was necessary. It would not be possible to think about species conservation without knowing the actual situation of the area and the living beings at the place. However, more studies are needed that examine the socioeconomic and cultural aspects of traditional reef management and combine this information with tests of their ability to produce measurable conservation (Cinner et al, 2005). That is an existent need of finding out what is mostly affecting the already vulnerable fishes, especially since they are a huge source of food for the population, and looking to this side, the study was really complete, showing individually which fishes (the ones with low, medium or high vulnerability) was being affected the most by which aspects (population, markets or

modernization). So it is actually a very important case study, using the correct data base, such as social and economic data. And also using very trustable sources such as national census data, and other information from the Solomon Islands own government. But I found that the problem of the project was that it did not make anything else but study the area. At the end of the article, it showed the impacts in the fishes, but it has not really proposed a solution for this. So one of the problems of the study was that they showed the problem, but did not showed the solution, or which methods could be used to protect the threatened fishes. It said the difficulties about conserving the species nowadays, with such modern methods of fisheries and with the growth of the population density, since the fishes is used for feeding, but the research was actually really vague about how we could manage to take

away the existing vulnerability of the reef fishes to extinction by fishing, or at least to do not put the studied species under even more threat. I think that the study could also be improved by having a small section, or even a little paragraph on the introduction, talking about the species. We can see that they explain why they choose it, and what the importance of the species is, but they did not explain about the species itself, in a more biological way. So maybe it could have included a brief explanation for the lay people on the characteristics, habits, and maybe photos, of the studied species. But still, it was not a really important point. After all, the actually important missing part in this project was a conservation method, which could have been done with a little more study and research. It should have proposed some actions such as common measures used for fishes protection like establishing the right periods for fisheries, and specifying the period that it would not be possible to fish in this case, being this the period of reproduction of the species. As said in Cinner et al (2005), periodic restriction of net and spear fishing has a positive effect on target fish species. So it would not be hard to the article to present only a few options for preservation of the reef fishes. Also, it could have being proposed that the markets around brought a few products from outside the area, reducing the existing large consumption of fishes, or any other point that could reduce the fishing. Since the population are growing, it is inevitable that the demand for food increases, rising the pollution as well, and getting harder to preserve the environment. Even though, that have to be something that can be done, since without a healthy environment, the animal population will easily decrease. The study kind of brings us a dilemma. We know that the fishes are threatened and they can vanish of the world at any time, since it is vulnerable to extinction. Even though, we cannot stop fishing them, since it is source of food for the population, and we can also not stop the population of growing. So what actually can be done, anyway? This is an important point that I think the article could have talked about, since it is the actual problem. Because finding out the source of the negative influence in the reef fishes does not solve anything, being the real problem the finding of a solution to the vulnerability of the fishes, since that is no possibility of stopping fishing them.

As I said before, the only plausible solution that I could think of is to establish a fishing routine, making a law saying when the fishing can occur, and when it is prohibited, since it should not be allowed to fish in the reproduction time. That way the reef fishes would be protected, and naturally occur the conservation of the species, which would keep as a source of feeding for the population. For the realisation of this review, was used besides of the reviewed article, two other studies that helped in the learning of a few more about the conditions of the coral reef fish, and also gave ideas on how hard it is really to find a solution for the vulnerability of the reef fishes. The above said studies was Cinner et al, 2005, and Graham et al, 2011. Both explained about vulnerability and conservation of the coral reef fishes, giving me the needed information to better analyse and criticize the project that I choose.