Translocation of wild Trochus niloticus: Prospects for enhancing depleted Philippine reefs

Roger G. Dolorosa, Alastair Grant, Jennifer A. Gill

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

6 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Intentional release of wild-caught individuals has been widely used to establish new populations of the commercially valuable but threatened reef gastropod Trochus niloticus in oceanic islands. Is this also a viable strategy to enhance depleted populations of this species and other marine invertebrates? We monitored growth and survival of 765 translocated individuals and 486 in their original habitat for 5–9 months. Individuals translocated to a severely overexploited reef (mainland Palawan) grew 2–3 times faster than those at Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park, Phillipines. Despite variations in growth between the three sites, survival probabilities were consistently high, ranging between 0.77 and 0.92. So translocation is feasible, and sites at which a species has previously been found are likely to be suitable for their growth and survival. If site management can control over-fishing, this approach is likely to be a valuable tool for enhancing field populations of a large invertebrates like Trochus that have a short lived planktonic larva.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)403-413
Number of pages11
JournalReviews in Fisheries Science
Volume21
Issue number3-4
Early online date12 Nov 2013
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2013

Keywords

  • growth
  • marine protected areas
  • reintroduction
  • survival rates

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