Implementation of a small-scale "no-use zone" policy in a reef ecosystem: Eilat's reef lagoon six years later

A small-scale, "no-use zone policy" has been implemented since 1992 at Eila t's Coral Nature Reserve (Northern Red Sea). Six years later, the status of this closed-to-the-public reef area was compared to two nearby open-to-the -public sites, by evaluating populations of the scleractinian coral Styloph ora pistillata in the strolling zone (0.5-1.5 m depth). Results from the op en sites show that: (1) Live coral cover was three times lower than at the closed site; (2) numbers of small colonies (recruits) were significantly hi gher than in the closed site, while numbers of medium and large size coloni es (geometric mean radius, (r) over bar > 4.1 cm) per m(2) were significant ly lower; (3) maximum (r) over bar was almost half than that in the closed site (9.6 cm versus 16.7 cm); (4) average number of broken colonies was thr ee times higher than in the closed site, (5) significantly fewer colonies w ere partially dead. The latter result may reflect senescence processes in t he large colonies of the closed site. Although colony breakage is reduced, it appears that the "no-use zone" policy is not sufficient for protecting s mall reef areas. The intense exploitation of Eilat's coral reef by the tour ist industry requires' in addition to the conventional protective measures, the initiation of novel management solutions such as reef restoration by s exual and asexual recruits.