11th ICRS Abstract book - Nova Southeastern University

18-37
It Depends On Where You Look: The Status Of Coral Reef Ecosystems in The
United States And Pacific Freely Associated States
Alicia CLARKE* 1 , Jeannette WADDELL 1
1 Center for Coastal Monitoring and Assessment, Biogeography Branch, National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration, Silver Spring, MD
U.S. states, territories, commonwealths and affiliated states that contain coral reef
ecosystems span more than half the globe from the U.S. Virgin Islands to Palau. The
State of Coral Reef Ecosystems of the United States and Pacific Freely Associated States:
2008, a NOAA publication, pools monitoring data from 15 jurisdictions to provide a
comprehensive assessment of the condition of the nation’s coral reefs in an effort to
broadly summarize key threats, present monitoring activity results in three primary
categories, and describe current management actions taken at both local and national
levels to conserve coral reefs. Data from the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Navassa
Island, Southeast Florida and the Florida Keys, the Flower Garden Banks and other banks
of the NW Gulf of Mexico, Hawaii, the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, American
Samoa, the Pacific Remote Island Areas, the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas,
Guam, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia and the
Republic of Palau are presented. Information from jurisdictional chapters written by
teams of scientists, academics, coastal managers, and state and federal agencies is used to
develop the National Summary chapter which describes trends in ecosystem condition.
This chapter of the report also presents key biotic and abiotic variables that are currently
the focus of monitoring efforts, spatial and topical data gaps, and a qualitative assessment
of the perceived impact of 13 key threats identified in the U.S. Coral Reef Task Force’s
National Coral Reef Action Strategy. The 2008 report is the third in a series of reports
intended to deliver the most comprehensive and up-to-date information to a wide
audience, including members of the U.S. Congress, scientists, managers and the general
public. Results from the 2008 report will be released and presented during the ICRS.
18-38
The Status And Trends Of Coral Reef Ecosystems in The Hawaiian Archipelago
Eric BROWN* 1 , Greta AEBY 2 , Russell BRAINARD 3 , Kathy CHASTON 4 , Athline CLARK 5 ,
Alan FRIEDLANDER 6 , Jean KENYON 3 , Petra MCGOWAN 7 , Tony MONTGOMERY 5 ,
William WALSH 8 , Ivor WILLIAMS 8 , Wendy WILTSE 9
1 Kalaupapa NHP, U.S. National Park Service, Kalaupapa, HI, 2 Hawaii Institute of Marine
Biology, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Kaneohe, HI, 3 Pacific Islands Fisheries Science
Center, Coral Reef Ecosystem Division, NOAA, Honolulu, HI, 4 Dept. of Natural Resources &
Environmental Management, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI, 5 Division of
Aquatic Resources, Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources, Honolulu, HI,
6 Biogeography Branch and The Oceanic Institute, NOAA, Waimanalo, HI, 7 Division of Aquatic
Resources, NOAA, Honolulu, HI, 8 Division of Aquatic Resources, Hawaii Department of Land
and Natural Resources, Kailua-Kona, HI, 9 Pacific Islands Contact Office, U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency, Honolulu, HI
Coral ecosystems in the Hawaiian archipelago range from poor to excellent condition and are
geographically split into the remote Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI) and the populated
Main Hawaiian islands (MHI) in the southeast. Archipelago-wide stressors include large waves,
increasing temperature (0.8°C since 1956), diseases, ship groundings, and marine debris. MHIspecific
stressors add coastal development, pollution, increasing tourism, shifting fisheries, the
commercial aquarium fishery, and invasive species.
Resource condition assessment indicated that overall quality of Hawaii’s waters is good with
impaired coastal waters in the MHI around harbors and protected embayments. Benthic habitats
had moderate coral coverage (20.0%) across 1746 sites in the archipelago. Coral cover was
highest in the southern portion of the archipelago and lowest in the north. Trends at long-term
(>10 yrs) MHI sites showed that the majority (70%) experienced a decline in percent coral
cover. Fish biomass was highest on islands with low human populations and this pattern appears
consistent since 2000. Oahu with the highest human population had the lowest overall fish
biomass and apex predators were virtually absent. Assessments for 55 fish species targeted in all
fisheries found that nearly three-quarters of the species are depleted.
In 2006, the NWHI were designated a Marine National Monument, the largest fully protected
marine conservation area in the world, encompassing nearly 3,626,000 km 2 (100%). In the MHI
no-take MPAs comprise only 2.2 km 2 (0.4%) of nearshore waters with an additional 19.4 km 2
(3.6%) in partially protected areas, and 35.0 km 2 (6.5%) in areas with no or restricted access.
Studies have shown that the MHI are in poor condition compared with the NWHI and even
small protected areas in the MHI do not adequately protect the full complement of species or
interactions found in the NWHI.
Oral Mini-Symposium 18: Reef Status and Trends
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Healthy Algal-Dominated Reefs On Remote Pacific Islands?
Peter VROOM* 1 , Kimberly PAGE 1 , Jean KENYON 1 , Russell BRAINARD 1
1 Coral Reef Ecosystem Division, NOAA Pacific Island Fisheries Science Center, Honolulu, HI
Reefs surrounding remote, uninhabited islands in the central Pacific Ocean have been regarded
as “predominantly healthy and at low threat risk” by leaders of tropical reef research. To gain
multidisciplinary understanding of such healthy reefs under U.S. jurisdiction, NOAA, PIFSC’s
Coral Reef Ecosystem Division began synergistic surveys of fish, coral, macroinvertebrates,
and algae coupled with oceanographic surveys in 2000. Baseline research presented here
showcases percent cover of benthic organisms at a functional group level from eight of the most
isolated islands monitored, including reefs from the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI),
the U.S. Phoenix Islands (USPI), the U.S. Line Islands, American Samoa, and the
Commonwealth of the Mariana Islands. Although localized patches of dense coral cover
occurred in select habitats at all of these top-predator-dominated islands, average coral cover
ranged from 7.1% to 32.7%. Algal functional groups (macroalgae, turf algae, and crustose
coralline red algae) were 2.0 to 12.0 times more abundant than corals around islands when all
habitat types were considered together, with fleshy macroalgae occupying more substrate than
corals at 46% of sites examined. This unexpected finding is forcing scientists to reevaluate the
definition of reef health at remote tropical Pacific islands. Can the same parameters used to
gauge reef health in one ecosystem be transferred to other ecosystems in different geographic
areas? For instance, the subtropical NWHI are dominated by turf algae and the meadowforming
green alga, Microdictyon, whereas the USPI contain very little turf algae but high
abundances of crustose coralline red algae. Should low coral cover automatically be considered
alarming if no evidence of a recent phase-shift is evident? Is a high abundance of macroalgae
always indicative of decreased reef health?
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Pacific Reef Assessment And Monitoring Program (Ramp): Integrated Ecosystem
Observations Of Coral Reef Ecosystems Of The U.s. Pacific Islands
Russell BRAINARD* 1 , and Research COLLEAGUES 1,2
1 Coral Reef Ecosystem Division, NOAA Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center, Honolulu,
HI, 2 Joint Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research, University of Hawaii, Honolulu
In an effort to provide scientific information needed to support ecosystem approaches to
management of coral reefs in the U.S. Pacific Islands region, a multi-institutional team of
scientists led by NOAA’s Coral Reef Ecosystem Division has been collaborating to implement
the Pacific Reef Assessment and Monitoring Program (RAMP): an integrated ecosystem
observing system to map, assess, and monitor the coral reef ecosystems across the Pacific
region. With support from NOAA’s Coral Reef Conservation Program, Pacific RAMP has
conducted multidisciplinary baseline assessments and biennial monitoring around 50
island/atoll ecosystems in the Hawaiian and Marianas Archipelagos, American Samoa, and the
remote U.S. Line and Phoenix Islands. Monitoring efforts include rapid ecological assessments
of corals, other invertebrates, fish, and algae to species or genus level using multiple methods;
spatial towed-diver surveys of benthic composition and the abundance and distribution of
ecologically and economically important macroinvertebrate taxa and large fish; mapping of
shallow and moderate depth benthic habitats using multibeam acoustic systems, optical
systems, and satellite imagery; passive acoustic monitoring of biotic and anthropogenic sounds;
and multi-platform oceanographic and water quality monitoring using shipboard surveys,
moored instrument arrays, drifters, and satellite remote sensing. A subset of these
multidisciplinary ecosystem observations have been integrated into the Coral Reef Ecosystem
Monitoring Report for American Samoa: 2002 – 2006, the first in a series of comprehensive
reports for each of the four U.S. Pacific Island regions. Use of consistent multidisciplinary
methods across this vast region allows an unprecedented opportunity to perform biogeographic
and ecological comparative analyses across diverse ecological, environmental, oceanographic,
and socioeconomic gradients. Patterns of variability of reef fish biomass, coral cover and
disease prevalence, and other reef metrics across the Pacific Islands are examined.
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