EFFECTS OF SOME DESTRUCTIVE FISHING METHODS ON CORAL COVER AND POTENTIAL RATES OF RECOVERY

Effects of fishing with explosives (blastfishing) and sodium cyanide a nd of anchor damage on live coral were investigated on a heavily explo ited fringing reef in Bolinao, Philippines from 1987 to 1990. A simple balance-sheet model indicated that approximately 1.4%/yr of the herma typic coral cover may have been lost to blasting, 0.4%/yr to cyanide, and 0.03%/yr to coral-grabbing anchors, the potential coral recovery r ate reduced by about one third from 3.8%/yr in the absence of disturba nces to 2.4%/yr. These figures are subject to considerable uncertainty due to compounding of errors during computation. Reefs with patchy co ral cover are more susceptible to damage from blastfishing because of targeting by fishers. Reefs with smaller corals may have greater resil ience, because each unit of radial colony growth contributes a greater per cent increase in areal cover. Blastfishing in particular may redu ce resilience to natural perturbations, leading to assemblages of smal l, sparse corals and reduced patchiness.