Those of you familiar with oceanography are probably aware that small fish tend to avoid open area where predators lurk, even though open area usually has the most food. Only desperate, starving fish try their chances. There is not the case in the Line Islands. The Line Islands are a chain of coral islands located in the central Pacific Ocean and south of Hawaii. Two of the Line Islands are owned by and designated as no-fishing zones by the United States. Another three belong to the Republic of Kiribati. In protected islands, small fish exhibit their normal, avoiding rich seaweed bed where the predators lie. In the other three where there are human settlements and active fishing, feeding is more evenly spread across the seaweed bed. This is due to the lack of predators to scare the small fish away. Our impact doesn't stop at the feeding pattern. When small fish feeds on seaweed, they create space for coral to grow. If fishery in these islands is sustainable, there should be enough predators (shark, tuna and etc.) to keep pressure off the central seaweed bed. With unsustainable fishery, we are not just endangering top predators, we are also changing the behavior of small fish and coral growth.
Here is the full article if anyone is interested
-Tom (Tsz Hang) Lee
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