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Vol. 52, 2013
Population and growth of queen conch (Lobatus gigas Linnaeus,
1758) in the Sapodilla Cayes Marine Reserve of Belize
Isani
Chan1, Li-Chun Tseng1,
Hans-Uwe Dahms2 and
Jiang-Shiou Hwang1*
1Institute
of Marine Biology, College of Life Sciences, National Taiwan Ocean
University, 2 Pei-Ning Road, Keelung 202, Taiwan
2Department of Biology, College of Natural Science,
Sangmyung University, 7 Hongij-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul 110-743, South
Korea
Abstract
Background: The conservation
effectiveness of marine protected areas is of substantial dispute. In
the Belize Barrier Reef, there are several zones with increasing human
activity and harvesting of overexploited species. Marine protected
areas are designed to protect endangered species and increase the
population size of exploited species. The present study investigated
the population and morphological characteristics of Lobatus gigas (Linnaeus, 1758) in the
Sapodilla Cayes Marine Reserve (SCMR) at the southernmost tip of the
Belize Barrier Reef to estimate the effectiveness of the marine
protected area.
Results: A total of 693 L. gigas conches were counted over
the 7,200 m2 from 36 transect lines. The densities of juveniles and
adult conches in the conservation zone were substantially higher (20.13
and 2.88 individuals/100 m2, respectively) than in the
general use zone (5.29 juveniles and 0.58 adults individuals/100 m2). The shell length of adult individuals
ranged from 14.4 to 18.5 cm in the conservation zone and from 14.6 to
18.1 cm in the general use zone. A comparison of shell length of
juveniles and adults showed no significant differences between the
conservation zone (11.39 ± 1.46 cm) and general use zone (11.62 ± 1.24
cm). There was a significant positive correlation for shell length with
lip thickness in the conservation zone (Pearson's correlation, r = 0.729, p < 0.001) and general use zone
(Pearson's correlation, r =
0.613, p = 0.02).
Conclusions: The function and
effectiveness of marine protected areas are discussed using the results
of the present study that identifies the primary objective which is to
ensure a continuous recruitment of valuable targeted species by the
protection of spawning stock biomass that is important for the
management of marine protected areas in an environmentally sensitive
ecosystem.
Key words: Queen conch; Size; Marine protected
area; Conservation efficiency.
*Correspondence: E-mail: Jshwang@mail.ntou.edu.tw
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