FISHING restrictions are turning out to be the unexpected saviour of a coral reef in the Bahamas that was being overrun by algae and seaweed. Concerns had been raised that limiting fishing in the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park would have the opposite effect, by allowing predator fish species to thrive and so wipe out fish that “graze” the coral and keep it free of damaging algae which covers the coral surface, stopping coral larvae from settling and growing.
But predators such as the Nassau grouper, Epinephelus striatus, appear to spare larger grazers, and these survivors clear the…
