Management implications of fish trap effectiveness in adjacent coral reef and gorgonian habitats

A combination of visual census and trap sampling in St. John, USVI indicate d that traps performed better in gorgonian habitat than in adjacent coral r eef habitat. Although most families were seen more commonly in coral habita t, they were caught more often in gorgonian areas. Traps probably fished mo re effectively in gorgonian habitats, especially for migrating species, bec ause traps provided shelter in the relatively topographically uniform envir onment of gorgonian dominated habitats. Recently, trap fishermen on St. Joh n have been moving effort away from traditionally fished nearshore coral re efs and into a variety of more homogeneous habitats such as gorgonian habit at. Consequently, exploitation rates of the already over-harvested reef fis h resources may be increasing. Reef fish managers and marine reserve design ers should consider limiting trap fishing in gorgonian habitats to slow the decline of reef fisheries.