Many coral reefs have shifted from coral‐ to macroalgae‐dominated community states, heightening the need to understand resilience of coral communities. Fishing on herbivores often reduces resilience of the coral state, as lower herbivory fosters macroalgal establishment. Despite the acknowledged importance of fishing, relatively little attention has been paid to how fishers change their behavior as macroalgae overgrow reefs, or how the resulting dynamic feedbacks might affect resilience. We address these questions in Moorea, French Polynesia, where local fishers target herbivorous fishes and where shifts to algal dominance have occurred on some lagoon reefs. We quantified fisher preferences for reef habitats where they target various taxa. For the two most ecologically important taxa of herbivores targeted in the fishery, parrotfish (Scaridae) and unicornfish (
- Award ID(s):
- 1714704
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10111757
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Marine policy
- Volume:
- 98
- ISSN:
- 0308-597X
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 77-84
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Abstract Marine protected area (
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