Figure 1.
Numbers 1–9 show the sampled reef sites (O) in fishery reserves (marine park zone) and in fished areas (non-reserves). Reef sites close (<1 km distance) to nursery habitats are site # 1, 2, 3, and 7, while those isolated (>3.5 km distance) from nurseries are site # 4, 5, 6, 8, and 9; site # 3 falls completely within the small northern marine park zone. The position of the replenishment zones (line fishing allowed on fish>20 cm in body length) and the environmental zone (no fishing of any kind allowed) is also indicated. Location of the various zones was obtained from the Cayman Islands marine park brochure. Grey represents land mass.
Figure 2.
Non-metric multi-dimensional scaling plot for biomass of nursery species.
The plot shows the ordination of the fish community at reef sites (numbered 1–9, see Fig. 1) that differ in fishery protection (reserve vs. fished) and nursery proximity (close vs. isolated).
Table 1.
Results of SIMPER analysis for nursery species, showing which species best explained differences in fish community between sites close to vs. isolated from nurseries (average dissimilarity = 53.2).
Figure 3.
Fish biomass in marine reserves vs. fished areas with different proximity to nurseries (close vs. isolated).
Mean total biomass per 100 m2 (±standard error) across reef sites is shown for the entire size range (A) of nursery species and all species, and split (B, C) for small (≤25 cm total length) and large (>25 cm total length) fish. The black arrow indicates the reserve effect in absence of nurseries, whereas the dashed arrow indicates the nursery habitat effect in fished areas on small individuals of nursery species.
Table 2.
Results of linear mixed-effects models for fish biomass of nursery as well as all species with reserve presence and isolation from nurseries as crossed fixed effects and site as a random factor.