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Conservation of threatened large sharks and management of shark-human interactions requires an under- standing of shark occurrence and movement patterns. Here, we present the first catch, movement and behaviour data of adult bull sharks, Carcharhinus leucas, in New Caledonia. Amongst six adult C. leucas tagged with passive acous- tic tags, four females were caught in coastal waters while males were only found at an isolated oceanic barrier coral reef over 100 km from the nearest river mouth. Two females were monitored in the southern New Caledonia lagoon for 707 and 208 days respectively and displayed classical transient behaviour and sporadic short-term residency around a coastal reef bay, with movements in and out a river detected prior to spring. Adult C. leucas in New Caledonia may develop a sex-based spatial segregation with an atypical presence of adult males in oceanic environments, probably influenced by the unique estuarine-marine continuum of the New Caledonian great lagoon.

The present paper analyzes data collected between 2001 and 2002 on 81 reef fish species targeted by fishers at 5 sites in the Kingdom of Tonga (South Pacific). We first ranked the sites with respect to fishing pressure using two independent methods: (i) Tongan demography and reef surfaces available for fishing, and (ii) the differential effects of fishing on the whole set of 81 species grouped by their life history traits (LHT). We then focused on Parrotfish (Scaridae), which are heavily targeted in coral reef fisheries. We used the identified gradient of fishing pressure to study the effect of fishing on the community structure and test the hypothesis of "shifting dominance" amongst the 20 Scarid species present in the surveys. In addition to the classical effect of decreasing fish size in a family strongly targeted by fishers, the shifting dominance phenomenon includes a decrease in the abundance of the large-bodied and highly targeted species, favouring their replacement by smaller-bodied species from the same family, which are less impacted by fishing. In a context of interspecific competition amongst Scarids, the stress of fishing appears as a factor favouring the replacement of species with large maximum size, and LHT promoting low resilience, by smaller species with the opposite attributes. The discussion focuses on the various processes that can explain the shifting dominance phenomenon. The total density of resilient species, which increased along the gradient of increasing fishing pressure, can be used as an indicator of the over-exploitation of fish communities for reef fisheries management.

The diversity of reef ecosystems, the multiplicity of reef resource uses and the breadth of the range of the island socio-cultural contexts concerned make coral reef fisheries (CRF) management in the South Pacific a complex task. The health and state of the targeted resources depend both on ecosystem characteristics (as determined by ecological and biological factors) and on fishing pressure, whose effects are only partly known. Increasing harvests from commercial and recreational fishing increasingly overlap with traditional Subsistence activity, creating an important CRF management challenge. This paper presents a new approach to CRF assessment and monitoring by providing a set of multidisciplinary indicators. The fisheries system is assessed from three different viewpoints: ecology of targeted populations, exploitation and the broader socio-econornic fishery context. The use of complementary indicators chosen from each of these fields could balance the chronic lack of human and financial resources for the management of these fisheries. We suggest the use of these indicators through an assessment grid or an indicator dashboard specifically adapted to given situations and management objectives determined through a participatory approach. The operational efficiency of this dashboard depends on i) dialogue between users, ii) the objectivity of the proposed monitoring, iii) the Visual transcription of divergent/convergent interests amongst stakeholders, and iv) stakeholder involvement in the decision-making process. The use and constraints of such a tool are described with reference to Ouvea atoll (New-Caledonia, South Pacific) for which an analysis of available indicators for assessing fisheries status is presented., La diversité des écosystèmes coralliens, la multiplicité des modalités d'exploitation de leurs ressources et l'hétérogénéité des contextes socio-culturels insulaires rendent complexe la gestion des pêcheries récifo-lagonaires du Pacifique sud. La santé et l'évolution de ces ressources dépendent, d'une part, des caractéristiques propres de l'écosystème (obéissant à des facteurs biologiques et écologiques) et, d'autre part, de la pression de pêche dont certains effets seulement sont établis. La pêche traditionnelle aux fins de subsistance est aujourd'hui concurrencée par des activités à visées commerciales et récréatives, qui accroissent les prélèvements et soulèvent de nouveaux enjeux de gestion. L'article propose une approche pour l'évaluation et le suivi de ces pêcheries basée sur un ensemble d'indicateurs pluridisciplinaires. Le système « Pêche » est analysé de trois points de vue complémentaires : l'écologie des peuplements exploités, l'exploitation halieutique sensu stricto et le contexte économique et social plus large des pêcheries. La mise en place d'indicateurs issus de ces trois domaines vise à compenser le manque chronique de moyens financiers et humains pour la gestion des pêcheries coralliennes des îles du Pacifique sud. Nous suggérons que leur utilisation s'effectue au travers d'une grille d'évaluation ou tableau de bord répondant à des situations précises et des objectifs de gestion définis lors d'une approche participative. La portée opérationnelle de ce tableau de bord de gestion de la pêche repose sur i) la concertation engagée entre les usagers, ii) l'objectivité du suivi préconisé, iii) la transcription visuelle des intérêts convergents et/ou divergents des acteurs, et iv) leur implication dans le processus de décision. Les modalités et contraintes d'application de cet outil sont décrites sur l'exemple de l'atoll d'Ouvéa (Nouvelle-Calédonie, Pacifique Sud), pour lequel une analyse des indicateurs disponibles pour décrire l'état des pêcheries a été réalisée.