We used to jump into the water to go snorkeling with happy anticipation, nowadays it’s a mixture of fear of the damages we might find and hope that we’ll see at least some healthy coral and meet a few fishy friends. Coral reefs are dying all around the planet at an alarming rate because of climate warming, rising acidity of the oceans, run-off from cities, industries and agriculture and sedimentation due to deforestation and erosion. Another factor is overfishing: coral that was bleached and weakened by those factors can only recover if there are enough herbivore fish living on that reef to prevent algae from overgrowing damaged areas. Parrot fish are the cleaners of the reef, but they are also considered a delicacy and have been fished close to extinction on many islands.
The important role these pretty, colorful fishes play has been known for a long time and efforts have been made to protect them, but most of them were unfortunately only half-hearted and others got abandoned due to resistance from fishermen. A 2014 report from the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network already noted coral reefs in the Caribbean had been reduced by more than fifty per cent since the 1970s. One would think that such drastic news would lead to drastic changes in countries that rely on fish for their nutrition, but also on tourism to support their economy. Unfortunately attempts to protect the biodiversity of the reefs and to prevent overfishing meet outraged resistance from those that depend mostly on healthy reefs: fishermen. In Belize, a voluntary ban on the fishing of parrotfish became national law in 2009, but it has been only partly effective because of its voluntary nature… The Dominican Republic tried to go a step further and instituted a two-year ban on catching parrotfish in 2017, but violence erupted when state authorities confiscated five hundred pounds of illegally caught parrotfish and the ban was eventually lifted again—no government wants to lose the support of the important fishing lobby. Last year, Jamaican authorities also came close to protecting parrotfish permanently, before toning the regulations down to a seasonal ban.
Colombia is at least protecting parrot fish in one of its marine reserves in the central Caribbean. The country’s navy is enforcing the new rules and seizing illegal parrotfish catches within the Seaflower reserve. The example of Bonaire shows that strict and actually controlled bans on fishing work wonders on the health of reefs: a study that was conducted from 2002 to 2017 showed that even though the initially abundant coral cover (45%) had declined after a hurricane and bleaching event in 2010 by 22 % and macro algae was on the brink of taking over the reefs returned to their original healthy state after fish traps were phased out and fishing for parrotfish was banned.
So why are parrot fish so crucial for the health of coral? Parrot fish spend their days feeding on algae and therefore they ensure that corals are not smothered by seaweed, and that open spaces are left for new coral larvae to settle. People used to think that they were damaging the reef by biting off chunks of live coral, but actually their constant nibbling stimulates reefs to grow at a faster pace. Many countries have regulations about the minimum size of fish species that are legal to catch, but that may even be counterproductive as a recent study shows: in an experiment differently sized openings allowed fish of three different sizes entry to enclosed coral patches. In those enclosures where neither large nor medium sized parrotfish had access, the algae grew ten times faster! The larger fish, that are mostly targeted by fisheries, are the ones that keep the algae at bay.
So what can we as cruisers do to help protect parrot fish? It makes sense not to contribute to the problem of overfishing by going hunting with spearguns. Even if you don’t target parrot fish yourself, the next local fishermen might take a parrotfish if cruisers have taken snappers and groupers out for dinner already. We don’t buy reef fish from locals as it encourages them to go out fishing to supply cruiser’s anchorages. We make sure to ask at restaurants what fish species actually go into their burgers and other dishes. If you’d like to take a step further and actively help protecting parrotfish you can visit our blog and download info material. We take brochures and presentations along when we go to villages and schools. Often islanders are concerned about their dwindling resources already and are interested in what they can do to ensure a future for their reefs sustainable fishing!
Christian and Birgit have been cruising, snorkeling and diving for 12 years on their SY Pitufa. Check out their blog www.pitufa.at for more info or read their books “Sailing towards the Horizon” and “Cruising Know-How” (both available on amazon).
Robert S. Steneck, Suzanne N. Arnold, Robert Boenish, Ramón de León, et al. “Managing Recovery Resilience in Coral Reefs Against Climate-Induced Bleaching and Hurricanes: A 15 Year Case Study From Bonaire, Dutch Caribbean.” https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2019.00265/full
Andrew A. Shantz, Eberly Research College of Science. Fishing practices that selectively remove large parrotfish could put corals at risk. https://science.psu.edu/news/Shantz1-2020
