Putting science into management at local level: implementation of biological reference points for reef fisheries at Saleh Bay, West Nusa Tenggara

Small-scale fisheries have been long recognized to be poor-data, thus it is inevitably challenging to manage. In Indonesia, definition of small-scale fisheries strongly correlates with ‘small fishers’ terminology which... [ view full abstract ]

Small-scale fisheries have been long recognized to be poor-data, thus it is inevitably challenging to manage. In Indonesia, definition of small-scale fisheries strongly correlates with ‘small fishers’ terminology which defined as fishers who operate fishing fleets less than 10 GT. Number of fishing fleets in this category makes up more than 90% of total vessels operated within Indonesia waters, yet monitoring of resources utilized by those vessels are still lacking. The increasing number of <10 GT fleets is alarming, particularly when there is no certain management to ensure the stock sustainability while efforts continuously intensify. In Sumbawa Island, West Nusa Tenggara (WNT) Province, reef fisheries significantly contribute to local income as such commodities are not only traded domestically but also exported in high volume. The increasing trend of fish harvesting is not followed by proper monitoring, thus no reliable information of stock health was available. WNT Government then committed to take action, decided to develop reef fisheries management initiative by applying indicators to monitor stock health. Length-based spawning potential ratio (LB-SPR) is used as one of indicators as for poor-data fisheries, SPR can be applied as biological reference points. Monitoring surveys were undertaken for grouper and snapper catch in Sumbawa Island, involving fish length measurement and collecting fishing trip information to estimate catch per unit effort (CPUE). Results show that certain species of fish have reached limit reference point, indicating that the stock is over-exploited. This information is fundamental for fisheries manager to propose harvest policy to ensure stock sustainability.