South Kohala Conservation Action Plan : roi research report Roi research report

"The grouper Cephalopholis argus (roi) was introduced as a food fish to Hawai'i in the 1950s in response to declines in commercial catches of native fishes. However, due to the prevalence of ciguatera fish poisoning in roi, they are infrequently targeted by fishers. In the absence of fishing pressure and natural predators, roi numbers have increased dramatically in recent years on some reefs in Hawai'i. With strong support from the fishing community, manual removal has been proposed as a management option and is being implemented by fishermen at multiple sites throughout the state with varying levels of direct agency support. We worked with a community in South Kohala to remove invasive roi from sections of coral reef as part of an experiment designed to measure the effectiveness of this potential management tool within the suite of conservation actions to halt or reduce coral reef degradation in Hawaii". 2013 CoRIS (Coral Reef Information System) Library Public Domain 1858