Only 10 pct of fish on coral reefs covered by environmental protections: research

SYDNEY, Oct. 8 (Xinhua) — Only 10 percent of fish stock on coral reefs globally are covered by environmental protections, according to a new study published on Tuesday.
In the study, a team of international researchers led by the University of Sydney and global NGO the Wildlife Conservation Society found that current international conservation efforts account for approximately 10 percent of fish biomass on coral reefs.
Fish biomass refers to the total weight of all fish.
The team analyzed fish survey data across nearly 2,600 reef locations and compared their biomass estimations to environmental protections.
Joshua Cinner, co-leader of the research and director of the Thriving Oceans Research Hub at the University of Sydney, said that increasing reef protections would help boost fish stocks globally and have flow-on benefits for people.
“Millions of people depend on reef fish for their livelihoods and nutrition. However, overfishing is severely threatening the wellbeing of coastal communities right across the globe,” he said in a media release.
“We found that conservation efforts have made a contribution to the amount of fish on global coral reefs, which is promising. But on the other, this contribution appears quite modest and our study makes clear just how much room there is for improvement,” Cinner said.
According to the research, marine protected areas currently cover eight percent of the world’s oceans.
At the 2022 United Nations Biodiversity Conference, participants were committed to protecting 30 percent of the world’s terrestrial, freshwater, coastal and marine areas by 2030.
Cinner said the new research found that increasing the global coverage of fully protected reefs to 30 percent would increase fish stocks on reefs by 28 percent.
The research said that if fishing restrictions such as banning nets or spearguns were put in place on all reefs that currently have no constraints, reef fish stocks would increase by a further 10.5 percent. ■