Assessment of parrotfish community structure along a fishing pressure gradient in South Sinai marine protected areas, Gulf of Aqaba, Egypt

Abstract

Egypt's coral reefs in the Gulf of Aqaba (GoA) are among the world's most important biodiversity hotspots and well-developed high-latitude reefs (Burke et al., 2011). Also, it is of great importance to the national economy through coral reef-based tourism and artisanal fishing (Spalding et al., 2017). To protect and conserve these unique reefs, Egypt has established a network of three marine protectorate areas (MPAs) linked by protected coastlines to cover the entire Egyptian coast on the GoA. Fisheries management systems vary widely between South

Herbivorous Reef Fishes of South Sinai Marine Protected Areas (Gulf of Aqaba, Egypt): Influence of Fisheries Management and Protection Status

“…Moreover, they were addressed in the Red Sea (Alwany et al, 2009;Afeworki et al, 2013;Khalil et al, 2013Khalil et al, , 2017Kattan et al, 2017). In the GoA, a series of studies have described the status of herbivorous fishes (Ashworth & Ormond, 2005;Tilot et al, 2008;Advani et al, 2015;Naumann et al, 2015;Reverter et al, 2020;El-Haddad et al, 2022). However, these studies were generally limited by the fact that they focused on a specific region or a specific fish group.…”