Impact of Marine Protected Area on Reef Fish Population in Ay and Rhun Islands, Banda Islands, Maluku Province

The function of marine protected area (MPA) is to manage marine biodiversity and fisheries resources toward sustainability utilization. The reef fish condition is one of bioindicator to measure the MPA management impact. The purpose of this research was to study impact of Ay and Rhun Islands MPA establishment on the reef fish resources in the Banda Island, Maluku, Indonesia. The methods used for data collection were the Underwater Visual Census (UVC) and Fish Length Estimation supported with SCUBA equipment. Data analysis was operated by comparing secondary and primary data which included abundance, biomass, tropic level status and the composition of large fish and small fish from 10 target and economically important fish families, before and after Ay and Rhun Islands declared as MPA. The results presented that the abundance and biomass of reef fish were fluctuated temporally before and after Ay and Rhun Islands designated as MPA, however in good and high rating. Whereas the tropic level status and the composition of reef fish sizes changed before and after MPA designation, on the contrary, stationary in a balanced condition between tropic groups, large and small fish. The conclusion is Ay and Rhun Islands MPA have positive impact on the reef fish resources