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Assessment of the Myeik Archipelago Coral Reef Ecosystem, Reef Check Surveys, January 2013 to May 2014

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Assessment of the Myeik Archipelago Coral Reef Ecosystem, Reef Check Surveys, January 2013 to May 2014 Tanintharyi Conservation Programme SURVEY OF CORAL REEF FISHES OF THE MYEIK ARCHIPELAGO, MYANMAR Barry C. Russell Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory Darwin, Australia TCP Report No. 13 July 2015 FFI Myanmar 2015 Tanintharyi Conservation Programme The The Tanintharyi Conservation Programme is an initiative of Fauna and Flora programme International’s (FFI) Myanmar Programme, implemented in collaboration with the Myanmar Forest Department and a number of local, national and international collaborators and stakeholders. FFI Myanmar operates the programme under a MoU with the Forest Department specifically for marine and terrestrial conservation activities in Tanintharyi Region. Funding This document has been produced with the financial assistance of the European Commission, Helmsley Charitable Trust, Segre Foundation, Lighthouse Foundation and the Arcadia Fund. Suggested Russell, B.C. (2015). Survey of coral reef fishes of the Myeik Archipelago, citation Myanmar. Report No. 13 of the Tanintharyi Conservation Programme, a joint initiative of Fauna and Flora International (FFI) and the Myanmar Forest Department. FFI, Yangon Author details Dr Barry Russell is Curator Emeritus of Fishes at the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia. He is a fish taxonomist with wide experience of fish survey work in the Indo- West Pacific. Copyright Reproduction of this report in full or in part is granted for the purposes of education, research or awareness, with the sole provision that the authors and authoring organisations be properly credited. Cover image Surveying fishes with underwater video camera at Myeik Archipelago (Credit: Lawrence Davis). Disclaimer The contents of this document are the sole responsibility of Fauna and Flora International and can under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position of the European Commission or other donors. Survey of coral reef fishes of the Myeik Archipelago, Myanmar Page 2 of 37 FFI Myanmar 2015 Tanintharyi Conservation Programme TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS ........................................................................................... 3 1. ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................. 4 2. INTRODUCTION: ................................................................................................... 5 Study Area .......................................................................................................................... 5 Previous work ..................................................................................................................... 5 Reef fishes of the East Andaman Sea Region .................................................................. 5 3. METHODS: .................................................................................................................. 7 Site description and selection ............................................................................................ 7 Survey methodology .......................................................................................................... 7 4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSI ON: ................................................................... 9 Sampling effectiveness ....................................................................................................... 9 General faunal composition ............................................................................................... 9 Fish community structure ................................................................................................. 12 Coral Fish Diversity Index (CFDI) .................................................................................... 13 Zoogeographic affinities of the Myeik Archipelago fish fauna ........................................ 15 Regional endemism .......................................................................................................... 15 Observations of larger reef fish species .......................................................................... 15 Artisinal and Commercial Catches ................................................................................... 16 Conservation Status of fish species ................................................................................. 16 Marine Protected Areas ................................................................................................... 17 5. RECOMMENDATIONS : .................................................................................... 17 6. REFERENCES: ...................................................................................................... 19 7. APPENDI CES ......................................................................................................... 21 Appendix 1: Myeik Archipelago Survey Site Details, December 2014 ........................... 21 Appendix 2: List of species, organised by family, recorded at each survey site ............. 22 Appendix 3: IUCN Red List status of species recorded from Myeik Archipelago ........... 35 Appendix 4: List of suggested indicator species to be used in monitoring surveys of reefs in the Myeik Archipelago .................................................................................... 37 Survey of coral reef fishes of the Myeik Archipelago, Myanmar Page 3 of 37 FFI Myanmar 2015 Tanintharyi Conservation Programme 1. ABSTRACT Underwater surveys of fishes at 26 sites in the Myeik Archipelago off the Andaman Sea coast of Myanmar were undertaken in December 2014 using high definition underwater video supplemented by still photographs to record fish species at each site. A total of 409 species from 55 families were recorded. Some 34 species from 15 families were new records for the East Andaman Sea region. The most abundant families in terms of number of species recorded were wrasses (Labridae – 59 species), damselfishes (Pomacentridae – 52 species), gobies (Gobiidae – 38 species), cardinalfishes (Apogonidae 25 species), groupers (Serranidae – 19 species), butterflyfishes (Chaetodontidae – 18 species), snappers (Lutjanidae – 15 species), surgeonfishes (Acanthuridae – 15 species), parrotfishes (Scaridae – 12 species), and scorpionfishes (Scorpaenidae – 12 species), these 10 families comprising 64% of the total fish diversity. Number of species per site ranged from 36-117, with only five sites having a maximum of 100 or more species. The richest sites for fishes in the Myeik Archipelago tended to be those reefs furthest offshore and with greatest range of habitats and structural diversity, while the lowest fish diversity was found at sites close to villages with high anthropogenic impacts, or in areas of very uniform coral cover. The Coral Fish Diversity Index (CFDI) (Allen 1998) for the Myeik Archipelago is 160, and the predicted approximate total for the area is 563 species, indicating that at least 154 more species can be expected by more extensive surveys. In comparison with other regions of the Indo-Pacific, the estimated total fish species for the Myeik Archipelago ranks at the lower end in terms of species diversity for regions across the Indo-West Pacific, and is less than the East Andaman Sea, Thailand (estimated total 843 species). The Myeik Archipelago fish fauna is similar to that of the Similan and Surin Islands of the Andaman Sea, Thailand (Allen and Erdmann 2012) and belongs to the much larger Indo-West Pacific faunal community. About 50.7% of Andaman Sea species are widely distributed in the Indo-Pacific or Indo-West Pacific; 17.1% of the species are found within portions of the western Pacific and north-eastern Indian Ocean; 15.5% of species have a distribution range in the western Pacific; and about 12% of the species are restricted to the eastern Indian Ocean. Regional endemism is small, only about 1.7% of the total species occur only in the Andaman Sea. The presence of fishes having both an Indian Ocean distribution range and also a western Pacific distribution range in the Eastern Andaman Sea region reflects a strong distribution confluence of both Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean fish faunas in the region. The conservation status of fishes from the Myeik Archipelago is known for only 66 species (16.1% of total species recorded). Of these, only four species (Giant Manta Ray, Manta birostris, Seahorse, Hippocampus kuda, Humpback Grouper, Cromileptes altivelus, and Squaretail Leopard Grouper, Plectropomus areolatus), are considered threatened (Vulnerable – VU). An additional species of grouper (Epinephelus coioides) and a butterflyfish (Chaetodon trifascialis) are listed as Near Threatened (NT), with the remainder listed as Least Concern (LC) or Data Deficient (DD). There was strong evidence of overfishing. Sharks and rays were notably absent during the surveys: no shark species were observed at any of the sites visited, and only a few small rays were seen. Larger individuals of predatory species such as groupers (Epinephelus, Plectropomus), snappers (Lutjanus) and emperors (Lethrinus) were also present in only small numbers. The absence of these larger species is an indication of heavy fishing. Large numbers of fishing boats (trawlers, gill-netters, purse-seine, long-line and squid jig) were observed near all sites and there was evidence of fouled nets on many of the reefs surveyed. In addition there was evidence of dynamite fishing, both recent (fresh fish kills on surface, especially fusiliers (Caesionidae) which occurred in schools
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