Base map data: Map data from: Coral Triangle Boundary: Global scale Coral Reef data: Fine scale Coral Reef data in the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea: Legend Total grouper species (per 10km grid) 50 - 61 38 - 49 26 - 37 14 - 25 1 - 13 % Threatened (per 10km grid) 15 - 29 13 - 14 11 - 12 9 - 10 5 - 8 0 - 4 The Coral Triangle is a centre of biodiversity for a very wide variety of tropical marine organisms. Amongst the fishes, the groupers are one of the more iconic groups important to the fisheries, and to the overall economy of the CT region. Groupers are one of the most important fish groups in the Live Reef Food Fish Trade, and fetch a very high price in markets. This high economic value is not only very significant to the fishermen involved in the trade, but imposes its own serious problems in terms of the sustainability of the fisheries into the future. One of the most effective measures for the protection and conservation of groupers is the establishment of appropriate MPAs. Current levels of harvest of groupers are currently unsustainable. Grouper production has steadily been increasing over the last 60 years due to the increasing demand for live fish. In view of these fisheries demands, and the intrinsic vulnerabilities of this particular group to fishing pressures (i.e. generally slow growing, late maturing, sex changing, relatively long lived, often grow to a large size, have a high trophic level in the food chain, and often form spawning aggregations which are highly susceptible to fishing), they were considered a priority group for IUCN Red List assessments. A Red Listing workshop was held in Hong Kong in Feb 2007 by the IUCN Grouper and Wrasses Specialist Group and the Global Marine Species Assessment. . . 0 250 500 KM 0 250 500 KM Grouper Species Richness % of Threatened Grouper Species CT Boundary (Vulnerable, Endangered and Critically Endangered) IUCN Red List Data for Groupers in the Coral Triangle