Fishing patterns shaped by history, place, and access leave lasting ecological signatures on coral reef fish assemblages

As global demand for seafood increases, reef fisheries expand with increasing mobility and market integration. Yet, many remain small-scale and informally regulated, where place-based knowledge shapes how fishing is distributed across space and between diverse resource users. These social geographies impact reef fish assemblages, with consequences for ecosystem function. However, this is challenging to document in data-poor fisheries. We used a mixed-methods approach with i. interview surveys to characterise perceptions of catch availability, spatial patterns and intensity of reef fishing and ii. in-water surveys to quantify the impact of fishing on fish communities, in the Lakshadweep archipelago (Indian Ocean). We found that although the fishery is nominally open access, subsistence fishing was limited to a distinct ‘home resource catchment’; confined to reefs proximate to inhabited islands. The recently emerged commercial reef fishery maintains profitability by focusing on distant, uninhabited atolls that have not experienced historical pressure and are perceived as richer fishing grounds. This represents a ‘spatial fix’, where problems of overaccumulation are solved by expanding or restructuring geographical space. Historically fished, proximate reefs are associated with significantly lower biomass (up to 69.8 %) and abundance (up to 97.14 %) of target predator species than reefs of distant, uninhabited atolls. The densely populated capital atoll shows the strongest fishing impacts with significant differences in size structure and community composition as well. Our approach reveals nuances in how subsistence and commercial fishers navigate shared resources and highlights a critical need for careful understanding of the social geographies of reef use.