Reef

Snapper Ledge Reef, in the Florida Keys, Protection is Fast-Tracked

A push to give a popular Upper Keys dive spot called Snapper Ledge more protection could gain support from a federal fishery agency.

Snapper Ledge, a shallow reef off Tavernier, could be declared a protected marine zone by the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council.

Many Upper Keys divers, spearheaded by underwater photographer Stephen Frink, describe Snapper Ledge as a vibrant reef with diverse fish life, yet it is not designated as Sanctuary Preservation Area under the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.

As of this week, 3,036 people had signed an online petition to change the Snapper Ledge status to a no-take zone. Efforts have been going on since 2008.

Amending Keys sanctuary rules to add a new Sanctuary Preservation Area involves reports and hearings that could take until 2015 at the earliest, sanctuary officials say.

“We’ve had requests from constituents to get it done more quickly, so in August we asked the South Atlantic Council to look into it,” said David Makepeace, an Upper Keys marine educator who serves on the Sanctuary Advisory Council.

“Much to my surprise, they said they would look into it,” Makepeace said. “Frankly, I did not expect this much action this soon.”

At a 4 p.m. Monday meeting at the Hilton Key Largo Resort at mile marker 97, the South Atlantic Council will take general comments on several issues, including whether the agency should begin working on a marine-protected zone for Snapper Ledge. A final decision would be months away.

“Personally, I support it,” Makepeace said. “I don’t want to create a precedent for using spot-zoning based on individual needs, but the Snapper Ledge situation and concerns are somewhat unique.”

Also Monday, the council also will review a proposal to establish 56 areas in Keys waters around protected elkhorn and staghorn corals where lobster-trap fishing would be banned.

The zones as proposed came out of talks between the Florida Keys Commercial Fishermen’s Association, the Keys Sanctuary and local marine-conservation groups.

“We’re on board for almost of the zones, except for three,” FKCFA Executive Director Bill Kelly said. “We’re asking them to them to shrink those or break them into two or more zones to cover a smaller area.”

Those three include a large area off Newfound Harbor in the Lower Keys, one off Davis Reef near Long Key, and one inside Carysfort Reef off Key Largo.

“Fishermen are all in favor of protecting the coral but these three zones include a lot of ground where there is no [branching coral],” he said.

The South Atlantic Council also is considering creating new rules that could limit the use of powerhead fishing — using a spear that uses a shotgun shell to take large fish, or create a special permit for powerhead fishing.

For information on the proposed rules, go to www.safmc.net. No action will be taken at Monday’s meeting, but officials will explain various proposals and take comments.

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Coral Population Stable and Sea Urchins Are on the Rise in Florida Keys

Over the past decade, the populations of staghorn and elkhorn corals in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary have remained steady after dramatic declines in the last century. Long-term monitoring conducted by researchers from the University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW) has revealed that while populations of the iconic branching corals remain far below their historic numbers, the surviving populations of both species have not suffered further declines.

“Our estimates for population sizes for staghorn and elkhorn have remained relatively constant over the last ten years, with millions of staghorn colonies and several hundred thousand elkhorn colonies present throughout the sanctuary,” said UNC Wilmington researcher Steven Miller, principal investigator for the project. “These numbers, however, represent a small fraction of what previously existed throughout the Florida Keys.

Coral disease devastated staghorn and elkhorn corals throughout the Keys and Caribbean starting in the late 1970s. Significant population declines were also caused by severe coral bleaching.Dwindling populations prompted the 2006 listing of staghorn and elkhorn coral as threatened on the Endangered Species List.

Since 1998, UNCW scientists have monitored the coral reef communities in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary (FKNMS). During the summer of 2011, UNCW and national marine sanctuary scientists counted and measured corals, as well as invertebrates such as urchins and anemones, at 280 Florida sites from northern Key Largo to Islamorada.

“Results from this long-term research help sanctuary managers evaluate the condition of our coral reefs,giving us a big picture view of how much coral is out there, where it’s located, and its condition,” said FKNMS science coordinator Scott Donahue. “Though significant natural recovery of elkhorn and staghorn has yet to be documented, the good news is that these corals are still here and their numbers are holding steady.”

UNCW research indicates that long-spined sea urchins, important seaweed grazers, also appear to be on the slow road to recovery. Disease ravaged urchins in Florida and the Caribbean in the early1980s, killing massive numbers of the species.

“Although long-spined sea urchin densities are almost 100 times less than their levels in the early 1980s, we have documented a slow, but steady increase in their numbers and sizes,” said UNCW researcher Mark Chiappone.

Results indicate that urchin sizes have noticeably increased in the past 20 years and researchers anticipate that with time, increasing urchin numbers and sizes may help corals to recover on reefs with abundant seaweed cover.

Research support was provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Coral Reef Conservation Program, National Marine Fisheries, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Endangered Species Act Section 6 Funding, the Office of National Marine Sanctuaries and UNCW’s Aquarius Reef Base.

Source: University of North Carolina Wilmington

Tags: Coral, Sea Urchin