U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS CORAL REEFS

In 1987 the Virgin Islands Division of Fish and Wildlife reported the following trends in the fishery: a continuing decline in the average size of trapped fish; an increase in fishing effort with no significant increase in landings; and prespawning juveniles making up most of the catch (deGraf and Moore 1987). Whereas groupers and snappers made up 33% of the catch in 1967-1968 (Dammann 1969), parrotfishes dominated the fishery in 1987 (deGraf and Moore 1987). Parrotfish populations are now beginning to exhibit signs of overfishing; specifically, the average size of trapped parrotfishes has decreased (Appeldoorn et al. 1992).
--Fish traps have decreased the number of fishes and changed the relative abundance of species on St. John's reefs. Throughout 6 months of experimental trapping on a single reef in the park, the number of groupers, snappers, squirrelfishes, surgeonfishes, and total number of fishes caught in 8 traps declined significantly (Beets 1996). During the same period, visual census data also showed a decrease in the numbers of piscivorous (fish-eating) fishes, squirrelfishes, snappers, grunts, parrotfishes, and surgeonfishes, and in the total number of fishes (Beets 1996).