4.1. Effect of fishing and management zone on fish behaviour
Coral trout behaviour consistently differed between protected and fished reefs. Differences were apparent for each of three behavioural measures in this study (FID. pre-flight behaviour. and escape trajectory (ET)). FID was consistently highest on fished reefs, confirming previous research that describes increased wariness of targeted species due to human exploitation. Interestingly, FID levels were lowest on no-entry reefs in the southern region, and there was no discernible difference
in behaviour between size classes (above and below legal limit). This suggests that these no-entry zones are effectively conserving natural
or near-natural "naive" behaviour with few or any modifications due to fishing or human presence
The relative frequency of pre-flight behaviours was significantly dif
ferent between protected and fished zones for two of six behaviours
measured: tacking and watching. Specifically, coral trout displayed
twice the frequency of tacking behaviour on no-take and no-entr