The impacts of spear and other recreational fishers on a small permanent Marine Protected Area and adjacent pulse fished area

I used shoreline creel surveys to quantify fishing activities in and around a small (0.34 km2) Marine Protected Area (MPA) in Hawaii (Waikiki Marine Life Conservation District). Spear fishing and shoreline pole & line fishing (angling) were the dominant fishing activities at Waikiki. Spear fishing had a greater overall impact on reef fishes than shoreline pole & line fishing, accounting for 70% of the total reef fish harvest at Waikiki, despite accounting for only 25% of fishing activities observed. Fishing activities at Waikiki were unevenly distributed in space and time. The MPA experienced minor illegal fishing and was located between an area of high diurnal spear fishing effort and an area of generally low fishing effort. This pattern of fishing activities allows jacks and goatfishes to evade capture despite nightly excursions from the MPA into fished areas, and may partly explain why these fishes remain more abundant and larger inside the Waikiki MPA than in surrounding fished areas. Quantifying fishing activities at MPA sites can provide valuable insight into how these areas function, and this information can be used to improve MPA design and effectiveness.