Sustainable reef fisheries on a well managed reef in the VR ranged from 15 to 20 mt∙km−2
∙yr−1 while reef fisheries on degraded reefs range from 4 to 5 mt∙km−2 ∙yr−1 (Alcala and Russ
2002). A high percentage of reef areas in the VR have been classified as degraded i.e., showing poor coral cover with high proportions of dead coral and rubble