Heupel et al.: Demographic characteristics of exploited tropical lutjamds 
431 
relatively early ages but also apparently reached sexual 
maturity before recruitment to the fishery. The exis- 
tence of early maturity in relation to longevity indicates 
a life history strategy with high reproductive potential 
in older individuals — perhaps indicative of adaption to 
low-frequency episodic recruitment successes (Kritzer, 
2002, 2004). These characteristics may mean that lu- 
tjanids are particularly vulnerable to recruitment col- 
lapse from sustained harvest at relatively low rates of 
fishing-induced mortality. 
Current management measures for lutjanid species 
within the GBR are precautionary to protect the wid- 
est possible range of lutjanid family members, but this 
may not be the case in other parts of their range and 
implications of differences among species should be con- 
sidered in such situations. The presence of substantial 
variation in life histories among species would indicate 
that the data presented here could serve as a bench- 
mark for these species in other regions, but should not 
be applied to different species that may not have com- 
parable demographic parameters despite morphometric 
similarities to the species examined here. Failure to 
recognise differences in life histories when implement- 
ing management strategies across species may result in 
over-exploitation of some species, under-exploitation of 
others, or both. Furthermore, we recommend that local 
species-specific estimates of population parameters are 
obtained wherever possible because significant regional 
and local variation in population parameters is becom- 
ing increasingly apparent for tropical reef fish popula- 
tions (e.g., Adams et al., 2000; Kritzer, 2002; Williams 
et al., 2003). Consequently, estimates derived from local 
populations are likely to significantly improve assess- 
ments and advice for the management of particular 
stocks. 
Acknowledgments 
Funding for the ELF experiment was provided by the 
CRC Reef Research Centre, the Fisheries Research 
and Development Corporation, the Great Barrier Reef 
Marine Park Authority, Queensland Primary Industries 
and Fisheries, and James Cook University. The authors 
would like to thank the many commercial fishermen 
who participated in the ELF experiment, in particular 
R. Stewart, M. Petersen, T. Must, K. Holland, and M. 
Bush. Funding to process and analyze samples from 
the ELF experiment was provided by the Australian 
Government’s Marine and Tropical Sciences Research 
Facility through the Reef and Rainforest Research 
Centre. This manuscript is a contribution from the 
ELF project. 
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