The Rotuma Coral Reef Conservation Project (page 3 of 4)

3.4 Reef Fish

Fig 6. Graph of mean abundance of reef fish for October 2003

Fig 7. Graph of mean abundance of reef fish for May 2004

• The mean count for common reef fish in 2004 was 58% more than 2003. Parrotfish was the most abundant in the 2004 survey with 82% and 66% more in shallower and deeper sites respectively.
• Butterflyfish also increased by 67% and 47% for shallow and deep sites respectively.
• A marked decline in Angelfish [80%], Demselfish [62%] and Surgeonfish [100%] for 2004 in shallow waters with much more abundance in deeper waters [85%]; [23%] and [83%] respectively.

3.5 Commercially Important Fish

Fig 8. Graph of mean abundance of commercially important reef fish for May 2004

Fig 9. Graph of mean abundance of commercially important reef fish for October 2003

• The mean count for commercially important fish for 2004 was 92% more than in 2003. However, there was no Lyretail (Variola louti) count for 2004, giving this data low diversity.
• As with the 2003 data, commercially important fish increased with depth.

3.6 Invertebrates

Pencil Urchin. Courtesy of NOAA	Brown Sandfish. Courtesy of Diane Walker. LRI - Rotuma

Fig 10. Commercially targeted invertebrates and their mean abundance for 2003

Fig 11. Comparison to Fig 8 of the invertebrate groups for May 2004

• Only 4 species of commercially targeted species were encountered for 2004 compared to all species encountered in 2003.