He reckons that, unlike over-exploited oceanic fisheries, which can rebound if the boats go away, reef-fish populations pushed to the brink of extinction may never recover.

ECONOMIST: What price coral?

Coral-reef fish tend to grow slowly, take many years to reach reproductive age, and then spawn in only a few localised sites.

ECONOMIST: What price coral?

We sat up and dropped our lures into the water, quickly finding out that keeping one's surfboard steady in a 10-foot swell while trying to fish a reef makes for a clumsy operation.

FORBES: Paradise Lost

Crocodile-tagging safaris, where researchers measure and label the crocs as part of a monitoring program, are night-time affairs, taken after a candlelit three-course meal of delicious reef fish washed down with chilled Chilean sauvignon blanc.

BBC: Tagging crocodiles in Belize