Lobster trap impact on coral reefs: effects of wind-driven trap movement

Commercial fishers report finding their lobster traps often great distances from their original location following major hurricanes. But traps also move during lesser wind events, such as during winter cold fronts. To assess trap impact on coral communities following winter storms, lobster traps were placed in hardbottom and reef habitats commonly used by commercial fishers in the Florida Keys, United States. Trap movement, percentage benthic faunal cover, and benthic faunal damage were assessed after 26 wind events occuring over three winters. Traps moved when storms with sustained winds greater than 15 knots (27.8 km/h) persisted for more than 2 days. Winter storms above this threshold moved buoyed traps a mean (+/- SE) distance of 3.63 +/- 0.62 m, 3.21 +/- 0.36 m, and 0.73 +/- 0.15 in per trap and affected a mean area of 4.66 +/- 0.76 m(2), 2.88 +/- 0.29 m(2), and 1.06 +/- 0.17 m(2), per trap at 4-m, 8-m, and 12-m depths, respectively. Unbuoyed traps, simulating derelict traps, moved a mean distance of 0.43 +/- 0.08 m and 0.44 +/- 0.02 m, and affected a mean area of 0.77 +/- 0.06 m(2) and 0.90 +/- 0.08 m(2) per trap at 4-m and 8-m depths, respectively. Injuries caused by trap movement included scraped, fragmented, and dislodged sessile fauna, resulting in significant damage to stony coral, octocoral, and sponges. Overall, sessile fauna cover along the trap movement path was reduced from 45% to 31%, 51% to 41%, and 41% to 35% at the 4-m, 8-m, and 12-m sites, respectively. Because of the large numbers of traps deployed and reported lost each season, damage to sessile fauna and loss of benthic faunal cover caused by traps needs to be considered to effectively protect coral reefs and manage essential fishery habitat in the future.