Contrasting tropical marine herbivorous fish catches between the Indo-Pacific and Western Atlantic

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Abstract
Ensuring food security in the Anthropocene presents a significant socio-ecological challenge, especially in rapidly changing coastal seascapes that sustain critical fisheries. Herbivorous fishes are essential for food and financial security through fisheries, however, their contributions to regional catches, and the factors influencing them, are not well understood. Analysing reported and reconstructed catch data across 69 Exclusive Economic Zones, we identify shallow-reef area and coastal population density as significant predictors of herbivorous fish catches. However, between-realm (i.e. Indo-Pacific vs. Western Atlantic) differences are marked, with rabbitfishes contributing disproportionately to herbivorous fishery catches. While rabbitfishes have the potential to support productive fisheries due to their relatively faster life-history traits, a 60% decline in catch-per-unit-effort suggests that their production potential, along with parrotfishes and surgeonfishes, may be decreasing globally. Our study highlights contrasting social-ecological outcomes for human populations in the Western Atlantic vs. Indo-Pacific; a difference primarily driven by rabbitfish catches.
Funding Information
  • Australian Research Council (FL1901000062)
  • James Cook University

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