AIMS Research Facilities News Search Site map Site index Topics index Media Release Sea cucumbers showing how to optimise design of marine protected areas Recent research at AIMS in Townsville on a kind of sea cucumber has shed light on how marine protected areas can help maintain populations of fished species. The black teatfish is a valuable addition to many Asian dishes, and there is a strong export market for the species. The AIMS researchers have found that populations of black teatfish on reefs that have been protected from fishing have far higher densities than on reefs that have been fished until recently. However, when the protected areas cover only part of a small reef they do not appear to be effective.
Population densities are the same in the protected part of the reef as they are on the fished part.
These findings have immediate application in improving the design of marine protected areas so that they can provide effective protection for fished populations. The data AIMS researchers have on population densities at the closure of the fisheries will provide important baseline with which to compare future surveys aimed at measuring the rate reefs recover. Further research is aimed at determining how fast the populations recover, and whether the new young that settle have dispersed from the protected areas or from the fished reef.