Assessing exploitation vulnerability risk of marine ornamental reef fish in Sri Lanka: A productivity susceptibility analysis

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We conducted a Productivity Susceptibility Analysis (PSA) to empirically assess the vulnerability risk of marine ornamental reef fish in Sri Lanka for exploitation. We considered distribution, accessibility, ecological niche, and market price as susceptibility attributes, while fecundity, larval development, maximum length, and longevity were productivity attributes. The vulnerability score, demand, and market price were used to assess species prioritization, and then compositions of the prioritized species were computed. The veracity of primary and secondary data collected on susceptibility and productivity attributes was confirmed by interviewing traditional fishers in situ. The IUCN and present PSA classifications for the medium susceptibility risk species were comparatively assessed. Four species out of 17 medium susceptibility risk species were encountered as the medium vulnerability risk species for exploitation. The Pacific cleaner shrimp (Lysmata amboinensis) emerged as the highest prioritized species. In addition, we observed significant differences in the species’ status assessed through the PSA approach compared to the IUCN status. The study affirms that demand and market prices substantially influence the exploitation vulnerability of species, and the PSA offers a promising multidisciplinary approach to evaluating intrinsic and extrinsic factors in conservation ecology compared to widely used IUCN status for assessing extinction risk. Furthermore, the present findings have practical implications, as they warrant essential policy changes for conserving the prioritized species and the medium vulnerability risk species encountered in the present research to extinction risk.