Fish Standing Stock at the Artificial Reefs ofPulau ... - seafdec.org.my

Fish Standing Stock at the Artificial Reefs ofPulau Payar, KedahZaidnuddin, I. and Abdul Razak, L.Fisheries Research Institute, 11960 Batu Maung, Penang,Malaysia(Cited as) ZAIDNUDDIN, 1. and L. ABDULRAZAK.1999. Fish standing stock observation atthe artificial reefs ofPulau Payer, Kedah. In International Conference on the Straits ofMalacca. X.Gopinath, X.Ibrahim, X.. Nik, F. Yusoph & M. Shariff (eds), p.OOO-OOO. Population Managementand Mitigation in the Straits ofMalacca Section.Since the early 1970's, the Department of Fisheries Malaysia has built artificial reefs in Malaysianwaters. The program began in the straits ofMalacca in the form of closely tied tyre reefs and thenprogressed to pyramid modules. This study was carried out to determine the effectiveness of theartificial reefs deployed and the fish standing stock in its vicinity. The reefs observed in PulauPayar were oftyres, concrete culverts, scuttled boat reefs and laminated concrete pillars. The reefswere ideal for smdy a..s.theywere not disturbed by fishing activity and could be used as an indicatorof processes that happen in other artificial reefs. The fish standing stock at tyre reefs were observedto be the highest compared to the other artificial reef forms. Resident type fishes for exampleEpinephalus sp., Anypherodon leucogrammicus Zanclus sp. and Heniochus sp. were abundant atthe artificial reef structure. Other fishes such as the lutjanids were observed to roam the reefs forfood and protection. Colonisation of artificial reefs was observed to depend on depth and totalsuspended solid level. Scleractinian corals and soft corals were observed to colonise the shallowartificial reefs but not the deeper and sediment covered tyres.The Department of Fisheries Malaysia has deployed more than 3 million tyres as artificial reefs in....thc-Malaysian waters (Wagimanet al.; ·1994). The tyres have been dep loyed in modules-covering-54 sites in the Peninsular Malaysia, 6 in Sarawak and 7 in Sabah. Fish standing stock is one oftheway to describe the effectiveness of an artificial reef programme. Bonsack (1994) compared the.., - fish.at different reef modules to determine how-artifieial reef sizes-influeneed fish aggregation ·atdifferent types of reefs. The communities inhabiting artificial structures deployed in an open.ecosystem may be influenced by various factors, for example, emigration, immigration, breeding,natural mortality and predatory mortality.Fishes can be attracted to artificial reefs in a short time.Abdul-Razak and Ismail (1992) reported that species such as Scolopsis sp. and Caesio sp. wereobserved around artificial reefs within 4-5 days. Even with a small module, a total number oftwenty species were observed. The contribution of the structure to production of fish versusconcentration of existing fish can be further elaborated through the study of fish communitiesaround the reef and the manner in which the area is protected.There are many types of spawning behaviour in marine fishes. These include oviviviparity (sharkand rays), nesting (damselfishes and triggerfishes) and scattering or cast spawning (groupers andlutjanids)(Allen, 1997). In cast spawning species, recruitment in an area would probably dependon water currents and juvenile concentrations trapped by eddies.Shark, squid and salmon select

their breeding ground and deposit their young making management of these species possible ifthespawning areas are known (Wagiman et al., 1994).Determining the success of artificial structures in increasing the fish populations in the areasurrounding a reef can be done through various ways and method. Fishing near the surface ofartificial reefs is one of the best way to determine the stock of fishes in that area. Wagiman et al.(1994) reported a maximum catch of20 kg fish per sampling in an area of 1,800 m 2 • Food chainbase is another measure by which the efficiency of an artificial reef structure can be established.Food supply in an artificial reef area can be divided into different categories such as algae,mollusc and benthic invertebrates. Usually after a few week of submergence in the water, algae,barnacles and oysters will start to colonise the structure (Latun and Wong, 1988). Colonisation ofoysters took about two months after the artificial reef was deployed (Abdul-Razak and Ismail,1992). Other supply of food for example plankton, zooplankton were usually abundant unless thewater is polluted. Open ecosystems are interdependent and food supply and recruitment maycome from other areas carried in by the water current.Understanding the contribution of artificial reefs to the marine ecosystems can be done throughthe study of resident organisms, such as groupers and chaetodids. Groupers, for example, havean interesting breeding behaviour because they are all born as females (protogynous) andmasculirization depends on several factors such as individual size and population needs. Groupersalso congregate to mate and the individuals mature at certain sizes before breeding. Bullock andSmith (1991) reported that the Mycteroperca microlepis, mature around 550 rom total lengthwithin 3-6 years. Artificial reefs besides being a safe area for young fish are also nesting groundsfor larger groupers. Artificial reefs create more safe areas for the species to grow and hide asthese areas are more difficult to fish than the natural shallow reefs.a) Determine the number of groupers species andb) Determine size range ofthe grouper species at Pulau Payars artificial reefsThe fish standing stock at artificial reefs will be described in a limited context as the standing stock ofgroupers

The study was done at Pulau Payar's artificial reef sites 06.06"N and 100.04°E (Figure I). All theartificial reefs were located on the eastern side ofPulau Payar and the south ofPulau Kaca. The depthofthe artificial reefs were between 15 - 30 m. Visual observations were done at 17-25 metres so as togive each artificial reef the same depth treatment. Observation of the artificial reefs was undertakenduring the neap tide when there was less water movement, and the water is usually calmer.6.07406.0720;.6.07006.06806.06606.06406.0620Fig. 1: Artificial reef location aroung Pulau Payar mapped usingRox-Ann. X-axis is the map longitude and Y-axis is themap latitudeSurveys were carried out three times each at Pulau Payar natural reefs, tyre reefs, culvert concretereefs, boat reefs and sandy bottom around mooring buoy and concrete anchors (Table 1).Ohservations were_undertaken using visual census by two divers and photographs of the fish weretakenfor record and identification purposes. Observations were also made using underwatervideo filming as a backup.Table 1: Artificial reefs location and depth around Pulau PayarNo Type Location Mean depth (m)1 Natural reef 100.041

Observations were made at 11:00 AM as this was the time observed for the low activity phasearound the structure.This is the time when the fish numbers are very low during the day.Observations were also done for comparison purposes at four in the afternoon as it is described asthe high activity time around the reef.The observations were recorded on a pre-prepared data sheet of groupers around Pulau Payar. Thegrouper list was prepared from a previous preliminary observation. Dives were made for 10minutes randomly around the artificial reefs and the fishes observed were recorded on the datasheet, estimate the size and numbers on each observation.The natural reefs study is estimated to be 20 x 50 m and situated in front of the Pu1au Payar MarinePark Centre. Depth variation is from 3 12 m. The tyre artificial reefs observed is situated about 40meters off to the sea from the first area and the depth varies from 15 m to 30 m. The concrete reefsobserved were to the north of the tyre reefs and situated between 50 100 m from coral reef edgewith depth range of20 m. The boat reefs were situated to the south ofPulau Kaca at a distance of200 m from the natural reef and depth of 25 m. Data from a trial run of bottom mapping seabedclassification equipment (ROX -ANN) were available for the boat reef area estimationThe grouper species encounter during the survey has been listed out in Table 2. The main grouperspecies encountered were Epinephalus coiodes and Anypherodon leucogramminicus. E. coiodeswere observed to vary from 6 - 150 cm, while the maximum size range observed for the A.leucogrammicus was at 75 cm. Estimated maximum stock of grouper per 10 meter square was15.25 kg/m square (concrete reef), 12.86 kg/metre square (Tyre), 35.80 kg/metre square (Boat) and9.32 kg/metre square (!latura1coral reef).Table 2: Main groupers observed around Pulau Payar's artificial reefsSpecies Natural reef Tyre reef Boat reef Concretedensity density density reef densityEpinephalusE. coiodes 3 3 3 3E. merra 2 1 1E. aerolatus 1 1E. quoyanus 2 1E. multinotatus 1E. ongos 1E.erythurus 1E. fuscogu ttatus 1CephalopholisC.formosa 3 2 2 2C. boeneck 1 1 1C. argus 1 1C. pachycentro n 1C. sexmaculatus 1AnypherodonA. leucogrammicus 2 3

* density/10m square 1 rare 1-2individual observed2 common 3 5 individuals observed3 abundant 6 10 individuals observedSmall (less than 30 cm) E.coiodes can be observed at the shallow end of the tyre reefs near theboundary to the coral reefs.Larger E. coiodes were observed at the boat reefs and the concreteartificial reefs. The number of fish observed were smaller as the size of each individual increasedat the artificial reefs. The mean number of individuals per reef type were high at the tyre reefcompared to the other reefs (Figure 2).Anypherodon leucogrammicus were observed to be high in number near the natural reefs and thetyre reefs compared to the other two reefs. Other resident fish observed were Chaetodontid andSweetlips but occurrence varied from each observation.(/)25.~(,)Q)0-(/)--20.!!2m 15 :J"0:~"0c10-0ci 5z~ nO.of individual~ nO.of species0~0 f..,0 ~ ~(,,0.§~ '

The artificial reefs observed varied in a number of aspects such as depth range, structurecomplexity and material used. Epinephalus sp. was observed in this study as this species showedno significant variation to depth as it can be observed throughout the different depth studied. Evenat the deepest depth (the boat artificial reefs) the small individuals can be observed. As this type offish has a predatory eating habit colonisation of the structure by algae, mollusc and otherencrustation may be of indirect impact to the fish. It might be dependent on other type of grazersand plankton feeders which are daily visitors or benthic feeders that hide in the reef. Most of thefish species observed near the artificial reef can be considered as predatory type (grouper, snapper)and herbivorous grazer type for example the parrotfishes were less in the deeper part of the reef.Plankton feeders or pelagic hunter group for example the rainbow runner Elegatis bipunnulataand the Trevally (Caranx sp.) observed to circle the water column above either just swimming orhunting.From all the species, Epinephalus coiodes can be considered the most abundant in this area andwere observed in a range of sizes. The sizes observed were from the large adults to smallindividuals (20 cm total length). All the different size individuals can be seen occupying the samearea. Pulau Payar as a whole may be acting as a trap for the larvae stages that then grow tojuvenilesand stay around Pulau Payar. The young may have drifted from another area or naturally producedaround the island and get trapped by the water current and reef structure around Pulau Payar.Further studies should be done on the juveniles production and aggregation around Pulau Payar.The knowledge of the life cycles and breeding season for the species may be useful to describe theproduction of the species here. The second most abundant grouper species is the Anypherodonleucogrammicus. This species were also observed in a wide range of sizes. The maximum sizeobserved was estimated to be nearly 1 m in length and the smallest size observed wasapproximately 0.06 m. Smaller size juveniles were not observed during the survey. The stock ofgrouper in the artificial reef ofPulau Payar was in the range between 15-35 kg per metre square,compared to the maximum catch by Omar et al. (1991) approximately 20 kg per sampling trip.Observation shows that any non-harmful material can be used as artificial reefs to aggregate andproduced fishes (Grove and Sonu, 1991). Production here is mainly described as the increase ofbody size and the increase in chances of fry production as the recruitment of new small juvenileswas not observed during the study. Increase in recruitment or overspill of young ones is consideredone of the major contribution of the artificial reefs to the marine ecosystems but a lot more studyshould be done to prove this in a quantitative form. Amarine ecosystem needs enough input so thatthe individual ecosystems can accumulate and reproduce. Reproduction and output of anecosystem relies on many factors, for example the number of matured individuals, reproductivecycles and food availability.The best type of artificial reef observed were boat reefs and tyre reefs according to the number andvariety of fish sizes aggregating around it. Compared to the concrete reefs both the reefs wereobserved to have more crevices and holes for juveniles to seek refuge compared to the concretereefs. Abdul-Razak and Ismail (1992) found that the mix type reef with extra structure and spacesaggregate higher numbers of species compared to plain single structure. Furthermore the boat

eefs supply the environment with food source from the decaying wooden structure andobservations show that this type of artificial reefs were abundant with encrustation such astunicates, oysters and other organisms.Eventhough the boat reef site was located quite a distancefrom the natural reefs, the number of fish species was quite high. The concrete reefs should bedesigned with more refuge niches and constructed with a number oflarge and small roaming andhiding areas.Fish and crustaceans were observed to prefer overhangs under huge boulder coralsfor their refuge area. This show that one of the best designs for fish and crustacean is a layeredformation with low lighting and high roaming area.1) The artificial reefs programme can be considered successful in increasing the concentration offish around the artificial reefs2) Groupers are the best target fish species for artificial reefs programme and can be used as thespecies for sea ranching at artificial reefs.3) Groupers breeding cycles should be studied so that the basic life cycles of the species can beunderstand.The author would like to express his thanks to Ministry of Science for the research funding (IRPA), TheGeneral Director of Fisheries, The Director of Research, YusriYusuf(USM), the Pulau Payar MarinePark Rangers and others who help. Also thanks to Ms. Shahuntala Devi forreviewing the paper.Abdul-Razak, L. and Ismail, 1. 1992. An analysis of the efficacy of three artificial reef designs atPulau Lembu, Kedah. Proceedings of Fisheries Seminar, Department of Fisheries Malaysia.Allen, G. 1997. Marine Fishes of South-East Asia.. . -Perth, Western Australia.Western Australian Museum, Francis Street,Bohnsack, l.A., D.E. Harper, D. B., McClellan and M. Hulsbeck. 1994. Effects of Reef size oncolonisation and assemblage structure of fishes at artificial reefs off southeastern Florida,U.S.A. Bulletin of Marine Science Vol. 55, No 2 & 3: 796-823.Bullock, L.H., and G.B., Smith. 1991. Seabasses (Pisces: Serranidae). Florida Mar. Res. Inst.(partII) vol. VIII, 243 p.Grove, R.S. and C.J., Sonu. 1991. Artificial Habitat Technology in The World- Today andTomorrow. In. Nakamura, M., R.S. Grove and C.J. Sonu (eds). RecentAdvances in AquaticHabitat Technology, page 3-9, Southern Calif. Edison 16. Environmental Research, ReportSeries 91-RD-19.Latun, A.R. and EH. Wong. 1988.Kedah- A preliminary report.Fisheries Malaysia: 208-215.Ecological monitoring of the concrete reef at Pulau Payar,Proceedings of the First Fisheries Seminar, Department of

Omar, R.M.N .R., c.E. Kean, S. Wagiman, A.M.N. Hassan and M. Hussien. 1991. The design andconstruction of artificial reef using PVC pipes in Malaysia. 5 th • International Conference onAquatic Habitat Enhancement.Nov. 3-7, 1991. Long Beach, California.Wagiman, S., M.R.O., Raja-Noordin, M.H., Che-Omar, & M.N. Rosdi.1994. Tukun TiruanMalaysia, Jabatan Perikanan Malaysia: 132