fish yields from coral reefs

[Herman Cesar 85759]

Dear coral-list, 

My name is Herman Cesar. I work on the economic analysis on the coral reef  
management project (COREMAP) that the World Bank is assisting with in Indonesia. 

I am looking at different threats of reefs in Indonesia (blast fishing; cyanide  
fishing, coral mining, sedimentation, overfishing) from an economic point of  
view. I would like to get data on these issues to get an idea of the costs of  
destructive practives to society and of the possible benefits of sustainable  
management of coral reefs in Indonesia.  

I have gathered quite some data on prices of fish/invertebrates, etc. and on the  
live fish trade. However I lack knowledge and data on fishery productivity on  
reefs. I am an economist and I am mostly interested in very rough figures for  
broad averages for fisheries in Indonesia/Philippines. The questions that I have  
are: 

1)	If I have a sustainable yield of a coral reef (slope), what is the  
composition (in kg.) of a maximum sustainable harvest of reef-related fish  
(including small pelagics caught on the reef slope) for areas like Indonesia?  
The categories are: 

-finfish for local consumption/local market (rabbitfish, parrots, surgeons,etc.)    
-finfish for large restaurants, (live-fish) export (groupers, Nap. wrasse, etc.) 
-aquarium fish (how many pieces?) 

2)	If I have a sustainable yield of a coral flat (corals, seagrass, sand),  
what is the composition (in kg.) of a maximum sustainable harvest of  
reef-related fishery for areas like Indonesia? The categories are: 

x finfish 
-finfish for local consumption/local market (rabbitfish, parrots, surgeons,etc.)  
-finfish for large restaurants, (live-fish) export (groupers, Nap. wrasse, etc.)  
-aquarium fish 
x invertebrates 
-sea-cucmuber 
-trochus 
-giant clams 
-lobster 
-others 
x algae 
-seaweed 
x others 

3) I take for finfish on reef slopes an average maximum sustainable yield of  
10-20 mt/km2/year for reefs with high coral cover and little stress. This  seems  
to be in line with the literature (Russ, Alcala, McManus, Yap, Gomez, etc.) from  
reefs in the Indo-Pacific (much higher than in the Caribbean). Given this  
number, what would be the MSY for reef-flats with a  mix of coral/ seagrass/  
sand? 

4) What is the time-frame of recovery of the fishery for areas severely damaged  
by blasting or by cyanide fishing? 

If you have any rough data on this for Indonesia/Philippines/etc., I would  
appreciate these very much, 

Herman Cesar 

-------------------------------- 
Herman Cesar 
World Bank (EA3AG) 
tel:    x-(202)-4585759 
fax:    x-(202)-5221674 
e-mail: hcesar at worldbank.org