4. Discussion
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.