Tempering Expectations of Recovery for Previously Exploited Populations in a Fully Protected Marine Reserve

Table 3

Harvested numbers and survey counts of black-lipped pearl oysters at Pearl and Hermes Reef.

	1928–1930 (harvest)	1930 (post harvest)	2003(recent survey)
No. of pearl oysters observed	~150,000	480	1047
Density (ind./km^2)	Unknown	209–349	177
Average shell length (cm)	Unknown	20.2	20.2
Depth range (m)	Unknown	2.5–15	0.3–6.0
Depth most abundant (m)	1.0–3.0	4.4–8.3	0.5–2.2
Source	[29]	[29]	[59]