Presentation of Patricia Richards Kramer (PhD), Director of Atlantic and Gulf Rapid Reef Assessment (AGRRA), at the webinar "Herbivorous Fish to improve Coral Reef Health: Scientific and regional regulatory measure", held on June 25th, 2020.

1. July 25, 2020
Updating the status of parrotfishes in
the Caribbean
Patricia Kramer & Lynnette Roth
AGRRA / GCRMN Steering Committee Member
www.agrra.org
©Ken Marks

2. High biodiversity
Tourism & Recreation
Food & fishing
Coastal Protection
Coral reefs support….

3. Restore Reef Function by Protecting Herbivores
https://www.agrra.org/resources/
Dahlgen et al. 2014

4. IUCN Red List Review Importance to Coral Reefs
Rainbow parrotfish
Scarus guacamaia
Listed: Near Threatened
Call to action to protect parrotfish-
Specially Protected Areas and Wildlife (SPAW protocol)
of the UNEP Caribbean Environment Programme

5. Revised criteria for the listing of species in
Annexes of the SPAW Protocol
“For the purpose of the species proposed for all three annexes, the
scientific evaluation of the threatened or endangered status of the
proposed species is to be based on the following factors:
• Size of populations
• Evidence of decline
• Restrictions on its range of distribution
• Degree of population fragmentation
• Biology and behaviour of the species
• Population dynamics
• Vulnerability of the species
• Importance of the species to the maintenance of fragile
or vulnerable ecosystems and habitats.

6. 29 countries
3,027 surveys
9,087 benthic transects
12,740 coral transects
210,168 corals surveyed
26,865 fish transects
307,854 fish surveyed
www.agrra.org
1997-present

7. Macroalgae
Commercial Species
Herbivorous Fish Diadema urchins
Coral
Cover
Coral
‘recruits’
Target AGRRA Coral Reef Health Indicators

8. Total Parrotfish Biomass

9. Rainbow Parrotfish
Scarus guacamaia
Striped Parrotfish
Scarus iseri
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Greenblotch
Bucktooth
Striped
Princess
Redband
Stoplight
Bluelip
Blue
Queen
Midnight
Redtail
Yellowtail
Rainbow
Are some species more vulnerable?
Stoplight Parrotfish
Sparisoma viride
FishingVulnerability
Mean body size (cm)

10. Lower Fishing Pressure
Bahamas
Turks & Caicos
Belize
Higher Fishing Pressure
Haiti
Jamaica
Dominican Republic
COMPARING PARROTFISH & FISHING PRESSURE
Rainbow Parrotfish
Scarus guacamaia
Striped Parrotfish
Scarus iseri
Stoplight Parrotfish
Sparisoma viride
AGRRA Metrics: Sighting Frequency , Abundance, Size, Biomass
Preliminary example results

11. Rainbow Parrotfish (TP)
Scarus guacamaia
MAP Shown here is Size of Stoplight Parrotfish
https://www.iucnredlist.org/
species/19950/17627624

12. Lower Fishing Pressure
• SF low*
• Abundance low*
• SF >30 cm high*
• Biomass low*
Higher Fishing Pressure
• SF very low*
• Abundance very low*
• SF>30 cm very low*
• Biomass very low*
Potential Management Recommendation: Protect species (no harvest)
Rainbow parrotfish
Scarus guacamaia
26 cm average length
n=132
11 cm average length
n=11
Preliminary Results

13. Rainbow Parrotfish
Scarus guacamaia
Preliminary Draft

14. Rainbow Parrotfish
with mangrove area
Scarus guacamaia
Present (data 2010-present)
Present (data 1998-2010)
Preliminary Draft

15. Lower Fishing Pressure
• SF very high
• Abundant
• SF>30 cm high*
• Biomass high*
Higher Fishing Pressure
• SF very high
• Abundant
• SF>30 cm very low*
• Biomass moderate*
Potential Management Recommendation: Ban harvest or at minimum, protect larger
bodied individuals (limited harvest)
Stoplight Parrotfish
Sparisoma viride
17 cm average length 12 cm average length
n=5986 n=1988
Preliminary Results

16. Stoplight Parrotfish
Sparisoma viride

17. Lower Fishing Pressure
• SF very high
• Abundance high*
• SF>30 cm very low
• Biomass moderate*
Higher Fishing Pressure
• SF very high
• Abundance very high*
• SF>30 cm very low
• Biomass high*
Potential Management Recommendation: Protect large bodied ones and within
parrotfish group due to important role to reef health
Striped Parrotfish
Scarus iseri
9 cm avg length
n=14036
9 cm avg length
n=14441
Preliminary Results

18. Striped Parrotfish
Scarus iseri
Preliminary Results

19. • Fishery-independent measures of parrotfish populations are critical
for the management of Caribbean coral reefs.
• The most useful indicators of parrotfish population in the context
of reef function and management are biomass and size-specific
sighting frequencies. Species specific responses to fishing pressure can
be highly variable depending on life histories and vulnerability.
• Protecting the entire guild of parrotfish will have the greatest
benefit to coral reef function followed by species or size specific
fisheries measures that increase protection for more abundant AND
larger bodied parrotfish species (e.g., queen, yellowtail, redtail,
stoplight, redband).
Summary

20. NEW Challenges: Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease
https://www.agrra.org/coral-disease-resources/

21. SCTLD Coral Disease in the Caribbean
https://www.agrra.org/coral-disease-outbreak/
https://www.agrra.org/coral-disease-outbreak/

22. Caribbean Dashboard of SCTLD Outbreak
https://www.agrra.org/coral-disease-outbreak/

23. Gather information available to help review Criteria
1. Criteria 1 & 10 – Species important to fragile coral reef
ecosystems
2. Criteria 5 – Locally traded
3. Criteria 4 – IUCN Criteria
4. Criteria 6 & 7 – Regional Cooperation

24. Importance of Parrotfish
• Parrotfish play an important functional role on reefs through
herbivory.
• Through grazing they keep non-encrusting algae from
outcompeting adult corals for space and help create open
space for coral larvae to settle and grow.
• Their importance as algal grazers has increased since the
regional die-off of the key herbivorous sea urchin, Diadema
antillarum, in the 1980s.
• They produce and transport sediment that contributes to
sandy beach formation and are economically important for
reef tourism activities such as snorkeling and diving.
• Some parrotfish are vulnerable to overharvesting as they are
now targeted for food since other fish stocks have declined.
• Protecting sufficient numbers of herbivores can increase
grazing intensity to levels that can help shift the balance
towards more coral-dominated reefs.
Photos by Ken Marks

25. MAP Shown here is example Stoplight Parrotfish
Parrotfish Density, Size & Biomass
Metrics
Density
Size
Biomass

26. To collaborate and share information on the status of parrotfish,
please contact
Patricia Kramer at: pkramer@agrra.org
Thank you to all the
AGRRA partners
Images in this presentation are Copyright © by Ken Marks and New World Publications