Finfish and trochus lengths.

<p>Average lengths of finfish and trochus harvested from open reefs (white bars) and periodically-harvested closures (black bars). Error bars indicate standard error. * indicates a significant difference between length of fish or trochus caught from periodically-harvested closures compared with open reefs.</p

Distribution of sites based on catch composition.

<p>Non-metric multi-dimensional scaling plot of counts from families comprising catches from all fishing methods, from individual open reefs (open symbols) and periodically-harvested closures (closed symbols), with overlaid vectors of three families contributing most to observed variation between reefs. For Closures 2 and 4 (i.e. where periodic harvests spanned several weeks), the number in brackets indicates the week of harvesting (i.e. first to fourth week).</p

Map of study sites.

<p>The regions of Solomon Islands in which the two community clusters and four periodically-harvested closures were situated.</p

Data excluded from analysis.

†<p>The number of dynamite and netting trips refers to the number of fishers returning with catch from those events, and not the number of netting or dynamiting events.</p

Results from SIMPER analysis for the families that contribute most to dissimilarity in composition of catches from each fishing method from open reefs compared to periodically-harvested closures.

†<p>Rebound potential from fisheries exploitation is based on the life history characteristics of each family <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0073383#pone.0073383-Froese1" target="_blank">[40]</a>, <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0073383#pone.0073383-Palomares1" target="_blank">[49]</a>.</p

Catch rates from periodically-harvested closures and open reefs, by fishing method.

<p>Catch rates (untransformed CPUE) from commonly used methods of harvesting in periodically-harvested closures (closed symbols) and continuously open reefs (open symbols). Error bars indicate 95% confidence intervals. * indicates a significant difference at α = 0.05.</p

(A) CPUE data in linear mixed-effects models with harvesting strategy and fishing method as fixed factors, region and fishing grounds as random factors (B) Separate models for each fishing method.

<p>(A) CPUE data in linear mixed-effects models with harvesting strategy and fishing method as fixed factors, region and fishing grounds as random factors (B) Separate models for each fishing method.</p

Sampling periods, and fishing trips and hours analysed in each location.

<p>Sampling periods, and fishing trips and hours analysed in each location.</p

Observed differences in length of fish and trochus caught from periodically-harvested closures compared to open reefs.

<p>Mean % weight difference is calculated from the mean average length difference and using the standard expression W = aL^b.</p>*<p>indicates lengths were significantly different between periodically-harvested closures and open reefs.</p

Mean CPUE and ANOVA results of CPUE in the early and the late stages of the periodic harvest of Closure 2, and CPUE from open reefs in the same region (i.e. CC2).

<p>CPUE is catch per unit effort measured in kilograms per fisher hour.</p>*<p>indicates statistical significance at the level α = 0.05.</p