Impending extirpation of an isolated Nassau grouper (Epinephelus striatus) population at Glover’s Atoll, Belize, based on two decades of monitoring
Phillips, Myles, Tewfik, Alexander, and Burns-Perez, Virginia (2025) Impending extirpation of an isolated Nassau grouper (Epinephelus striatus) population at Glover’s Atoll, Belize, based on two decades of monitoring. Coral Reefs, 44. pp. 1513-1533.
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Abstract
Nassau grouper (Epinephelus striatus) was once among the most abundant and commercially important reef fish species in the Caribbean region. Overextraction at their fish spawning aggregations (FSAs) has contributed significantly to dramatic regionwide declines in their populations, resulting in widespread local extirpations, nominal presence in catch composition and categorization as an IUCN critically endangered species. This study reviews over 20 years of fishery-dependent and fishery-independent observations to examine the status of a spatially isolated population of Nassau Grouper inhabiting Glover’s Atoll, Belize (which is wholly encompassed by Glover’s Reef Marine Reserve) and utilizing a single well-documented reproductive site. Nassau grouper at Glover’s Reef Marine Reserve has decreased in abundance by 85% at the spawning site and decreased in density to virtually undetectable levels across all habitats and management zones despite seasonal and spatial closures, upper and lower size limits and collaborative monitoring and enforcement since 2003. Nassau grouper is also extremely rare in fisher catches both at Glover’s Reef Marine Reserve (n = 118 over 20 years) and nationally (18 of 18,383 fish observed at landing sites between 2017 and 2020), with juvenile fish comprising over 75% of the sampled individuals. The population at Glover’s Reef Marine Reserve continues to decline on a trajectory towards local extirpation. Closure of management gaps, including chronic enforcement resource deficits, may not guarantee recovery but has been a necessary precursor to recovery of other FSAs in the Caribbean.
| Item ID: | 88579 |
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| Item Type: | Article (Research - C1) |
| ISSN: | 1432-0975 |
| Keywords: | Belize, Critically endangered species, Epinephelus striatus, Fish spawning aggregations, Fisheries conservation, Marine protected areas, Population decline |
| Copyright Information: | © The Author(s) 2025. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. |
| Date Deposited: | 13 May 2026 00:12 |
| FoR Codes: | 31 BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES > 3103 Ecology > 310305 Marine and estuarine ecology (incl. marine ichthyology) @ 100% |
| SEO Codes: | 18 ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT > 1805 Marine systems and management > 180504 Marine biodiversity @ 100% |
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