摘 要: | A small-scale, “no-use zone policy” has been implemented since 1992 at Eilat’s Coral Nature Reserve (Northern Red Sea). Six
years later, the status of this closed-to-the-public reef area was compared to two nearby open-to-the-public sites, by evaluating
populations of the scleractinian coral Stylophora pistillata in the strolling zone (0.5–1.5 m depth). Results from the open sites show that: (1) Live coral cover was three times lower
than at the closed site; (2) numbers of small colonies (recruits) were significantly higher than in the closed site, while
numbers of medium and large size colonies (geometric mean radius, rˉ>4.1 cm) per m2 were significantly lower; (3) maximum rˉ was almost half than that in the closed site (9.6 cm versus 16.7 cm); (4) average number of broken colonies was three times
higher than in the closed site; (5) significantly fewer colonies were partially dead. The latter result may reflect senescence
processes in the large colonies of the closed site. Although colony breakage is reduced, it appears that the “no-use zone”
policy is not sufficient for protecting small reef areas. The intense exploitation of Eilat’s coral reef by the tourist industry
requires’ in addition to the conventional protective measures, the initiation of novel management solutions such as reef restoration
by sexual and asexual recruits.
Accepted: 11 August 1999
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