[Coral-List] Caribbean reef sites with high fish abundance

[Tse-Lynn Loh]

Hello listers,
 
Do you know of Caribbean reef sites with high abundances of angelfishes and 
parrotfishes?
 
As part of my PhD thesis research, I'm in the midst of a Caribbean-wide survey 
to characterise coral reef sponge communities. Broadly, we wish to compare 
sponge community structure between reefs of high and low spongivore abundance, 
and to measure the level of sponge-coral competition at each site. Important 
spongivores include most angelfish, certain species of parrotfish, and 
turtles.  To get a good idea of what a reef with 'high' densities of spongivores 
is like, we have been targeting MPAs within the Caribbean, especially those with 
an extended history of protection. However, we have discovered that many MPAs 
allow fishing in some form, or comprise small protected areas adjacent to 
intensive fishing grounds, and have yet to come across reefs with large numbers 
of large parrotfish or angelfish, and at the MPAs we have visited, there is a 
dearth of large predatory fish (groupers, sharks, barracudas) as well. It has 
been difficult to find good survey sites that are largely unimpacted by fishing, 
and if anyone knows of such sites within the Caribbean, please contact me.
 
Please direct all correspondence to me at tl7275 at uncw.edu, and thank you in 
advance for your help.

Regards,
Tse-Lynn Loh
PhD student in Marine Biology
University of North Carolina Wilmington