The vulnerability of reef fishes to environmental exposure in Komodo National Park and its surrounding waters

Abstract

Komodo National Park (KNP) is administratively located in the Komodo district, West Manggarai Regency, East Nusa Tenggara Province. The geographical position is connected to the coast of the Flores Sea and the Indian Ocean. Fishing is the main livelihood for approximately 13% of the district population. There are 60 reef fish species found in the area, and small scale fishers were mostly operated to support their livelihood. This study aims to determine the vulnerability of five high-value reef fish species to environmental exposure, i.e., Plectropomus leopardus (Lacepède, 1802); Variola louti (Forsskål, 1775); Epinephelus fuscogutattus (Forsskål, 1775); Lutjanus malabaricus (Bloch & Schneider, 1801); and Lutjanus gibbus (Forsskål, 1775). The observation was carried out during 2019. The analysis was performed by the method for assessing the vulnerability of marine fish and shellfish species to a changing climate. The approach consisted of sensitivity attribute and exposure factor based on reasonable time series data availability. The results indicated that the vulnerability indices of P. leopardus, V. louti, and E. fuscoguttatus to aquatic environment variabilities were high. This means that the three populations are strongly influenced by environmental conditions on the coral reef ecosystem. The vulnerability indices of L. malabaricus and L. gibbus to the aquatic environment variables were moderate or sufficiently affected by environmental conditions to the coral reef ecosystem. One should be considered that these findings with the data-quality scoring at a category 2 and 3 or limited data to adequate data. These indices showed that necessary to manage and protect the marine and coastal ecosystems of Komodo National Park and its surroundings from anthropogenic pressures and adapt to environmental exposure factors. This should be supported by the identification of grouper and snapper spawning aggregation areas in the National Park.