Larval dispersal and fishing pressure influence recruitment in a coral reef fishery

Understanding larval connectivity patterns in exploited fishes is a fundamental prerequisite for developing effective management strategies and assessing the vulnerability of fishery to recruitment overfishing localised extinction. To date, however, researchers have not considered how regional variations fishing pressure also influence recruitment. We used genetic parentage analyses modelling infer dispersal bumphead parrotfish Bolbometopon muricatum larvae Kia grounds, Isabel Province, Solomon Islands. then extrapolated our model scale by mapping available nursery adult habitat B. six regions western Islands, estimated relative abundance populations each these based on historical current pressure. Parentage analysis identified 67 juveniles that were offspring parents sampled grounds. A fitted kernel predicted 50% settled within 30 km their parents, 95% 85 parents. After accounting unsampled adults, 34% was spawned locally. Extrapolating spatial resolution revealed high proportion recruiting into grounds came from nearby had abundant populations. Other islands archipelago provided few recruits reflecting greater distances lower abundances some regions. Synthesis applications. This study shows coral reef influenced The scales observed indicate unlikely if there are lightly reefs up away heavily fished region, small (<1 km2) marine-protected areas (MPAs) insufficient protect this species. recommend efforts understand interactions between gradients pressure, as will enable development tailored fisheries strategies.