Living Blue Planet Report

Chapter 1: The state of our blue planet page 13

Figure 8: Percentage
change in coral cover
over time in the Indo-
Pacific (blue) and
Caribbean (red) (Bruno
& Selig, 2007; Jackson et
al., 2014).

0

100

80

60

40

20

1968 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2004

Percentage change in coral cover

Year

Figure 9: The reef-
associated fish species
index declined 34 per
cent between 1979 and
2010 (WWF-ZSL, 2015).

0

1

2

1979 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010

Index value (1979=1)

Year

Key

Reef-associated fish

species index

Confidence limits

Key

Indo-Pacific

Caribbean

Of the 930 fish species in the LPI database, 352 are classified

as “reef associated” (living and feeding on or near coral reefs),

comprising 2,501 populations. The index for reef-associated fish

species declined 34 per cent between 1979 and 2010 (Figure 9).

Many reef-associated fish such as the various species of groupers

are important food sources both commercially and for local

subsistence. While overexploitation was listed as the primary

threat to the majority of populations, habitat degradation and

loss, climate change and invasive species were also identified as

significant threats.