The coupling of St. John, US Virgin Islands Marine Protected Areas based on reef fish habitat affinities and movements across management boundaries [Poster] (original) (raw)

NOAA's Biogeography Branch, National Park Service (NPS), US Geological Survey, and the University of the Virgin Islands (UVI) are using acoustic telemetry to quantify spatial patterns and habitat affinities of reef fishes. The objective of the study is to define the movements of reef fishes among habitats within and between the Virgin Islands Coral Reef National Monument (VICRNM), the Virgin Islands National Park (VIIS), and Territorial waters. In order to better understand species' habitat utilization patterns among management regimes, we deployed an array of hydroacoustic receivers and acoustically tagged reef fishes. A total of 150 fishes, representing 18 species and 10 families were acoustically tagged along the south shore of St. John. Thirty six receivers were deployed in shallow nearshore bays and across the shelf to depths of approximately 30m. Example results include the movement of lane snappers and blue striped grunts that demonstrated diel movement from reef habitats during daytime hours to offshore seagrass beds at night. The array comprised of both nearshore and cross shelf location of receivers provides information on fine to broad scale fish movement patterns across habitats and among management units to examine the strength of ecological connectivity between management areas and habitats.

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