Marine Protected Areas are increasingly becoming a tool of choice for conservation and management of marine resources and ecosystems. Data on biodiversity are necessary to assist in establishing protected areas for conservation objectives to be met. Toward that effect, we investigated reef biodiversity patterns in three large-scale coastal regions of Brazil. The study areas comprised of an upwelling region, an adjacent high impacted region, and a more distant marine park. We surveyed four reef sites in each study region. Species counts of sessile benthic organisms, substrate relief, and average monthly water temperatures were recorded during the surveys. Benthic organisms were identified to the lowest taxa possible using still photos. Biodiversity was estimated using Shannon's index on richness of organism taxa. Diversity was highest at the upwelling and high-impacted areas. No substrate relief patterns were found. Temperature readings showed lower average values at the upwelling and high impacted regions. Our results favor the upwelling region for establishment of a Marine Protected Area. Moreover, the similar diversity between the upwelling and the high impacted regions showed evidence of spillover effects from the former into the latter region, further demonstrating the importance of the former region for conservation.

Captive fish have been extensively used for stock enhancement and conservation of coastal and marine habitats. Evaluation of the effectiveness of this practice, however, has not been as extensively demonstrated. Here we assessed acclimation of captivereared dusky grouper to reef habitats as an indication of introduction success. Fish were reared in laboratory from eggs obtained from wild local stocks to early juvenile stage (approximately 5 cm total length). Early juvenile fish were transported to fish pens for grow out to approximately 20 cm total length. Fish were individually tagged with acoustic transmitters and released after the grow out phase. Tagged fish were released at three reef habitat stations. Two stations received five fish each and one received 15 fish. Tagged fish were monitored for 7 months. We observed high mortality at the station receiving 15 fish and low mortality at the other stations. Behavior of fish demonstrated a pattern of refuge use according to time-of-day following approximately 5 days of release. Tagged fish behavior indicated adaptation to new habitat, demonstrating that captive groupers are a viable option in population recovery of degraded reef habitats.