248 
Fishery Bulletin 1 14(2) 
recognize that it is important to be cautious in inter- 
preting the results of our analysis of data from the 
creel survey program for Guam. However, the lack of 
alternative survey or fishery information over extended 
time periods makes it important that these data are 
used to their fullest extent. 
The findings from our analysis of the data from 
shore-based creel surveys, given the above caveats, 
indicate a decline in relative biomass of reef-fish 
populations and a shift in community structure since 
the start (1985) of our study period. Our results are 
broadly in agreement with the findings of a number 
of previous studies that have focused on catches from 
boat- and shore-based fisheries in Guam (Hensley and 
Sherwood, 1993; Myers, 1993; Dalzell, 1996; Zeller et 
ah, 2007, 2015), as well as with results of studies of 
local fish abundance and size distributions (Richards 
et ah, 2011; Houk et al., 2012; Lindfield et ah, 2014). 
Because fishing for reef fishes is an important social 
and cultural activity for fishermen and their families 
in Guam, the decline over recent decades in the bio- 
mass of stocks of shallow-water coral reef fishes is a 
cause for concern. 
Acknowledgments 
Funding for the senior author and S. Grafeld was ob- 
tained from the NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Pro- 
gram. We would like to acknowledge the staff at the 
Division of Aquatic and Wildlife Resources, Guam De- 
partment of Agriculture, for data collection and the 
following people at the NOAA Pacific Islands Fish- 
eries Science Center: K. Low, M. Quack, and P. Tao 
for extracting and helping to interpret data, M. Na- 
don for advice on data analyses, and C. Boggs and J. 
Wetherall for their valuable comments on the draft 
manuscript. 
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