[ only regarding “Mangroves as drivers of nearshore fishery production” section of the article ]
- Based on the spawning cycle of many fish species that live near mangrove habitat: “mangroves could function as an important link in the chain of habitats that provide complementary resources and benefits, e.g., as nursery areas for fish, prawns and crabs (Sheridan and Hays, 2003; Crona and Ronnback, 2005), with spatial complexity at a scale that provides refuge to small prey, and abundant food for commercial species at certain stages in their life cycle (Chong et al., 1990)”(171).
- Fish production is proportionally related to the area of mangrove habitat: “Most of the analyses in these studies” – 27 studies were examined for this section of the review – “have resulted in positive correlations, assuming that the area of mangroves or tidal wetland habitat directly translates to the catch of commercial fisheries (Manson et al., 2005; Meynecke et al., 2007). Estimates of the amount of commercial catch explained by the presence of mangroves or estuaries range from 20 to 90% (Fig. 1). The most common variables used were mangrove area, followed by linear extent and intertidal area or estuarine size”(172).
- Data from certain articles suggest that certain species rely on a combination of mangrove and seagrass bed habitat rather than mangrove habitat alone to ensure species health (Robertson and Blaber, 1992; Nagelkerken et al., 2001; Dorenbosch et al., 2006a,b; Jelbart et al., 2007), while other articles stress the importance of mangrove habitat for ontogentic fish movements (Rooker and Dennis, 1991; Nagelkerken et al., 2000c; Nagelkerken and van der Velde, 2002, 2003; Eggleston et al., 2004; Lugendo et al., 2005)” (172-173).
- A main conclusion from the review indicated that it is extremely difficult to make generalizations about mangrove habitat because different fish species have varying dependence on mangrove habitat.