/ Effects of fishing with explosives (blastfishing) and sodium cyanide and of anchor damage on live coral were investigated on a heavily exploited fringing reef in Boli-nao, Philippines from 1987 to 1990. A simple balance-sheet model indicated that approximately 1.4%/yr of the hermatypic coral cover may have been lost to blasting, 0.4%/yr to cyanide, and 0.03%/yr to coral-grabbing anchors, the potential coral recovery rate reduced by about one third from 3.8%/yr in the absence of disturbances to 2.4%/yr. These figures are subject to considerable uncertainty due to compounding of errors during computation. Reefs with patchy coral cover are more susceptible to damage from blastfishing because of targeting by fishers. Reefs with smaller corals may have greater resilience, because each unit of radial colony growth contributes a greater per cent increase in areal cover. Blastfishing in particular may reduce resilience to natural perturbations, leading to assemblages of small, sparse corals and reduced patchiness.KEY WORDS: Destructive fishing; Blastfishing; Cyanide; Coral; Coral reef; Coastal management

The central Visayan region of the Philippines historically has the highest concentration of coral reef fishes than any other large marine area in the world. This well-supported biogeographic phenomenon is contradicted by recent transect observations on coral reefs that indicates that the Visayan region and the southern Philippine Sea region have the lowest species richness in the Philippines. The Visayan region has unusually low counts of species typically exploited in fisheries and the aquarium trade. This evidence, coupled with numerous reports of intense fishing and habitat degradation and subsequent species declines at local scales suggests that this exploitation is having a cumulative effect on the overall species richness of the Visayan region. Successes in Marine Protected Areas in this region in increasing species richness at local scales suggests that improved management of these protected areas coupled with much more intensive fisheries management will be key to reviving a healthy biodiversity in the Visayas.

Parrotfishes and surgeonfishes perform important functional roles in the dynamics of coral reef systems. This is a consequence of their varied feeding behaviors ranging from targeted consumption of living plant material (primarily surgeonfishes) to feeding on detrital aggregates that are either scraped from the reef surface or excavated from the deeper reef substratum (primarily parrotfishes). Increased fishing pressure and widespread habitat destruction have led to population declines for several species of these two groups. Species-specific data on global distribution, population status, life history characteristics, and major threats were compiled for each of the 179 known species of parrotfishes and surgeonfishes to determine the likelihood of extinction of each species under the Categories and Criteria of the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Due in part to the extensive distributions of most species and the life history traits exhibited in these two families, only three (1.7%) of the species are listed at an elevated risk of global extinction. The majority of the parrotfishes and surgeonfishes (86%) are listed as Least Concern, 10% are listed as Data Deficient and 1% are listed as Near Threatened. The risk of localized extinction, however, is higher in some areas, particularly in the Coral Triangle region. The relatively low proportion of species globally listed in threatened Categories is highly encouraging, and some conservation successes are attributed to concentrated conservation efforts. However, with the growing realization of man's profound impact on the planet, conservation actions such as improved marine reserve networks, more stringent fishing regulations, and continued monitoring of the population status at the species and community levels are imperative for the prevention of species loss in these groups of important and iconic coral reef fishes.

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