Environmental News Network Press Release:
http://www.enn.com/direct/display-release.asp?id=7306
Marine Scientists Assess
Wednesday, July
17, 2002
KEY LARGO, FL — Preliminary results from an intense
and wide-ranging fish census of the Florida Keys coral reef ecosystem indicate
that the abundance and sizes of exploited fish species are significantly less
in sites closest to large human population centers. "It took 28 dives in
Biscayne National Park before I saw my first legal sized fish snapper or grouper,"
said expedition co-leader Dr. Jerry Ault of the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel
School of Marine and Atmospheric Science.
Scientists reported some good news. The frequency of Goliath Grouper observed in the Tortugas region appears to have increased since the last survey in 2000. Also there was an apparent increase in the diversity and abundance of exploited species in the Tortugas North Ecological Reserve after only one year of protection. "The results are preliminary but encouraging," said co-leader Dr. Jim Bohnsack of NOAA’s Southeast Fisheries Science Center in Miami.
The complete fish and habitat census took place May 27-June 19, 2002, in an extremely successful oceanographic expedition from Miami to the Tortugas Bank, west of the Dry Tortugas, covering over 230 miles of coast and ocean.
During the month-long expedition, a total of 52 scientists conducted 1,806 scuba dives to depths approaching 100 feet. The main objective was to provide a comprehensive survey of coral reefs along the Florida reef tract. Simultaneous surveys were conducted of fishes, corals, conch, spiny lobster, and other reef species using state-of-the-art sampling strategies. Results will be used to define current conditions and monitor future changes as the result of management actions in Biscayne National Park, the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, and Dry Tortugas National Park.
The expedition, led Ault and Bohnsack, included scientists from many state and federal agencies, several universities, and a volunteer non-profit organization. “This research represents an excellent example of coordination, cooperation, and participation by different government agencies, universities, and private organizations to achieve a common goal,” said Bohnsack.
Renowned for its broad fishing opportunities and spectacular scenic beauty, the Florida Keys features the largest living barrier coral reef in North America. Situated parallel to the Florida current and Florida Bay, the coastal ecosystem encompasses many varied habitats including lagoons, mangrove stands, coral islands, sea grass beds, and coral reefs. Florida Bay and adjacent coastal estuaries serve as nursery areas for spiny lobster and many juvenile fishes that occupy reefs as adults. As a productive coral reef ecosystem, the Keys supports multibillion-dollar fishing and tourism industries in south Florida, including economically important fisheries for pink shrimp, lobster, reef fish (snapper-groupers), kingfish and Spanish mackerel. But over the past several decades, landings from historically productive snapper and grouper stocks have declined, dramatically.
“We’re extremely concerned about the future of these fishery resources,” said Ault. “Previous assessments of the Florida Keys reef fish community have shown that exploitation levels are very high, that many stocks are ‘overfished,’ and that overfishing has been clearly evident since the late 1970s.”
The combination of rapidly growing human populations, overfishing, habitat degradation, and changes in regional water quality from the Everglades Restoration Project makes the Keys region an "ecosystem-at-risk" and one of the nation's most significant, yet most stressed, marine regions under the management of NOAA, the National Park Service (NPS), and the State of Florida.
The expedition was unprecedented in its intensity and spatial coverage. A specially equipped dive boat was chartered to carry 22 divers during each of three 10-day expedition legs. Logistics and at-sea operational support were provided by NOAA's National Undersea Research Center at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. Scientists surveyed a huge area, from the patch reefs off Miami to the luxuriant coral forests located in the Dry Tortugas. Mixed gas diving (nitrox) was used to provide maximum time on the bottom and up to five repetitive dives per person per day. The total amount of data collected was exceptional. “Our motto was to make every dive count,” said Bohnsack.
It’s the first time we’ve ever done a whole reef ecosystem assessment at one time,” said Ault. “One goal is to develop high-precision monitoring of stock abundance at particular life stages to see what effects fishing regulations and ‘no-take zones’ are having on coral reef fisheries resources throughout the Florida Keys ecosystem." Ault, who specializes in mathematical, statistical and computer modeling of fish stock dynamics, is leading an effort to better understand and manage reef resources to build sustainable fisheries and conserve marine biodiversity. The data collected also will be used by NOAA Fisheries, the U.S. South Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Councils, and by Florida to better manage coral reefs and fishery resources.
To complement the fish census, Dr. Steven Miller, of the University of North Carolina at Wilmington’s National Undersea Research Center, led an effort that focused on assessing populations of hard and soft corals, sponges, algae, and other sessile organisms that provide structural "habitat" for fishes. John Hunt, of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, directed a census of spiny lobsters, sea urchins, and queen conch. Said Miller, "It's rare that you get an opportunity to get a system-wide view in a short amount of time. Work done during the expedition would have taken us the whole summer to complete if we had to work from shore."
The group’s effort supports a 5-year performance review of resource management in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the State of Florida. The cruise specifically examined changes since the establishment of "no-take" zones in the Florida Keys in 1997. Scientists also surveyed a new marine protected area, the Tortugas North Ecological Reserve, after it was closed to all fishing in July, 2001. The Tortugas North Ecological Reserve is located just west of Dry Tortugas National Park in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary and covers 151 square miles of water, making it the largest "no-take reserve" in North America.
The National Park Service will use the data to assess populations of reef fishes and invertebrates in key habitats in two National Parks. “This information is very timely and will be invaluable to the comprehensive Fisheries Management Plan for Biscayne National Park that the National Park Service is currently developing in cooperation with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission,” said Rick Clark, chief of resource management at Biscayne National Park. “The visual censuses will provide for a subsequent robust estimation of population abundance, size structure and habitat uses for all reef habitats within Biscayne National Park.” Data will also help establish baseline conditions in order to monitor future changes involving the planned creation of a Research Natural Area in Dry Tortugas National Park.
Other key scientists working on the research project include Steven Smith, Jiangang Luo, and Geoff Meester of the University of Miami assessment team under Jerry Ault; Doug Harper, David McClellan, and Jennifer Schull of the NOAA Fisheries Reef Resources Team under Jim Bohnsack; Mark Chiappone, Dione Swanson, Mark Vermiej, and Dave Eaken of the coral habitat monitoring team under Steven Miller of the University of North Carolina at Wilmington; and John Hunt’s spiny lobster team with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Participants also included biologists with the National Park Service, students from the University of Miami and Nova University, and a volunteer from the non-profit Reef Environmental Education Foundation.
The research was supported by grants from NOAA’s National Undersea Research Program to the National Undersea Research Center at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington (NURC-UNCW), the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, the National Park Service, and NOAA Fisheries under the coral reef initiative. Operational and logistical support for the expedition was provided by NURC/UNCW. Contact information for the principal investigators is provided below.
Jerry Ault
Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science
4600 Rickenbacker Csway
Virginia Key, FL
PH: 305-361-4884
Jim Bohnsack
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Southeast Fisheries Science Center
PH: 305-361-4252
Steven Miller
National Undersea Research Center
University of North Carolina – Wilmington
PH: 305-451-0233
John Hunt
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
Florida Marine Research Institute
PH: 727-896-8626
Rick Clark
Chief of Resource Management
Biscayne National Park
PH: 305-230-1144 xt.3007
Cheva Heck
Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary
PH: 305-743-2437 xt.32
For more information,
contact:
Mimi Cunningham
Assistant Vice Chancellor for
910/962-3171
cunninghamm@uncwil.edu
Web site: http://www.uncwil.edu