US$10,000 Grouper Meal

[Dr. Steve Oakley]

These large groupers must be the most likely marine fish to actually become 
endangered.   

1 They are rare  
2 They have a sex change life history so that small fish cannot reproduce 
together 
3  They have restricted ranges Coral reefs with good food & caves amongst others 

How frequently do they find a mate? 
Do they have a spawning ground and associated migration or are they a 
solitary rare beast with one or 2 per 100km2?  

Does anyone know? 

>comparative reproductive advantage of large fish over small? Jim Bohnsack has  
>a nice diagram of this.  

Gregor -- email address or reference please 

Can reef scientists band together to suggest that  
>national fisheries agencies restrict catch at the top-end of fish sizes for  
>some species?  

That's the role of protected areas to allow some to grow to max potential 
size. unfortunately at a probable natural maximum of 2 per km2.  Marine 
reserves are going to have to be huge to sustain a viable population  How do 
we get this across to fishermen, politicians, the general public?  How do we 
police areas of 100km2? 
Dr. Steve Oakley,  Shell Prof. of environmental Science, Institute of 
Biodiversity & Environmental Conservation,  Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, 
94300 Kota Samarahan, Sarawak, Malaysia  soakley at tualang.unimas.my  Fax  082 
671903  Tel 082 671000 x 254 or 260