Given the current effects of global environmental change on marine ecosystems, tools to support coral reef restoration have been substantially diversified. Restoration efforts have focused primarily on the recovery of coral species using different techniques. Harnessing restoration to achieve ecological rehabilitation of the ecosystem needs innovative methods that include the restoration of coral reef fish assemblages, contributing to the conservation of biodiversity and ecosystem functions and services.
Here we highlight a multidisciplinary engage approach necessary to establish a strong partnership among the science, public and private sector. We conducted field studies in the northern part of the State of Quintana Roo, Mexican Caribbean to analyze for the first-time possibility of using the capture and aquarium-culture of post-larvae fish species and releasing the juveniles as a tool for the potential recovery of reef biodiversity resilience. We tested the potential of post-larvae capture using night light traps. We collected 748 post-larvae reef fishes from 8 orders, 20 families, and 40 species. Acanthuridae, Pomacentridae, Monacanthidae, and Tetraodontidae comprised the highest species number of post-larvae families. We also explored pilot release experiment Stegastes partitus and a landscape analysis across the Mexican Caribbean as a potential tool to determine appropriate reef sites to release the cultured juveniles and for adding an ecological planning. The results of the pilot release experiment with S. partitus, showed that there is a positive effect in survivorship during the capture and release procedures into suitable habitat. Both technique approaches allow sustainable capture and culture of post-larvae fish species and can be combined with different techniques of conditioning and release to supply target reef sites. Using this method in fish-scarce coral reefs with vulnerable food webs may be helpful to test the feasibility and potential ecological, fisheries and aquaculture application.