Post larvae culture and capture

The majority of coastal fish have a the beginning of their life cycle, an oceanic larval phase (Sale, 1980; Leis, 1991; Leis and Carson-Ewart, 2000)(14).

At the end of this phase, the larvae move closer to the reefs and begin their transformation, known as post larvae. In the wild, more than 95% of post larvae disappear within a week of settling on a reef, mainly through predation. (Doherty and al, 2004; Planes and Lecaillon, 2001; Planes et al, 2002)(15).

Capturing a small quantity of these post larvae has no impact on the environment.

In Guadeloupe, a similar project run by the IGREC-MER association collected 42,900 post-larvae over a 24-month period (16).

P.C.C. is a good solution for supporting the resilience of an ecosystem (17). The individuals caught come from the locality. In this way, we do not influence the environment with fish from other regions. The post larvae caught are reared in captivity and then released as juveniles. The juvenile fish finish their growth at the release site. Athey will reproduce with theindividuals already present.

Post-larval fisher, 2012©Remy Dubas; Ecocean

Happy Couple Snorkeling; 2017 © Bicho_raro; istock

Juvenile releases are continued at a given locality until the biomass of animals has been restored to a level where the populations can once again produce a surplus of individuals, sustaining the stocks and authorising the capture of individuals once again (Bell and al., 2006)(18). The release site can be designed to encourage juveniles to settle in artificial habitats.

Post larvae Capture and Culture is certified as « good practice » by the International Coral Reef Initiative (ICRI)(19).