The battering taken by Caribbean coral reefs is finally taking its toll on the fish that dwell in them, a large new study suggests.
鈥淲e are seeing striking declines that are amazingly consistent across a huge area and very different types of fish,鈥� says of Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, Canada. 鈥淭he losses affect both large fish that are hunted by fishers and small fish that aren鈥檛.鈥�
Paddack鈥檚 team reanalysed 48 studies that had taken place in 318 reefs since 1955 and found that after decades of stability, fish numbers have started to go down. Starting from the mid 1990s, in all regions covered by the studies, fish numbers have fallen by between 2.7 and 6% per year.
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Paddack suspects that as well as overfishing, coral demise from disease and bleaching is to blame, together with pollution from coastal development.
Collectively, these events create a 鈥渄egradation debt鈥�, Paddack says. 鈥淐oral reefs have been breaking down since the early 70s. Once the damage is extensive enough, fish lose opportunities to find food and shelter.鈥�
And since climate change is accelerating coral bleaching, says Paddack, the outlook is bleak. On top of this, the disappearance of fish may further worsen the plight of the reefs. 鈥淎s the numbers of algae-eating herbivore fish dwindle, this may further stress the corals, which do less well when heavily overgrown,鈥� he says.
Journal reference: Current Biology, DOI:10.1016/j.cub.2009.02.041
See our feature: Extreme schemes to save the reefs
