11th ICRS Abstract book - Nova Southeastern University

23.1027
Florida Keys Coral Ecosystem Management: Can The Past Influence The Future?
Steven ROHMANN* 1 , Catherine MARZIN 1 , Loren MCCLENACHAN 2
1 NOAA, Silver Spring, MD, 2 Scripps Institute of Oceanography, La Jolla, CA
The Florida Keys coral ecosystem has changed significantly as a result of human
visitation and settlement over hundreds of years. Historical data, including ships logs,
fisheries reports, settlers’ journals and diaries, maps and charts, and colonial and state
records can be used to document the extent of cultural, social, economic, and ecological
change over time in the Florida Keys. Education and outreach media products that
connect humans with past and present coral ecosystems have the potential to stimulate
public interest in coral ecosystem conservation, management, and restoration. These
media products also may alter perceptions about the cultural, social, economic, and
ecological value of coral reefs and may empower residents, visitors, and politicians to
become more involved in the current and future conservation and management decisionmaking
process. The effectiveness of the media products on public interest and
perceptions can be deduced by tracking media product downloads from web sites,
tracking the number of people viewing media products at venues and web sites, and
estimating numbers of viewers of product-based Public Service Announcements.
Effectiveness may be measured by conducting surveys of the knowledge, attitudes, and
perceptions of Florida Keys visitors.
23.1028
Analysing Factors That Contribute To The Success Of Locally-Managed Marine
Areas: Preliminary Results And Lessons Learned
Toni PARRAS* 1
1 The Locally-Managed Marine Area (LMMA) Network, Fort Lauderdale, FL
Officially launched in 2000, the Locally-Managed Marine Area (LMMA) Network is
interested in learning how to improve marine management activities and increase
conservation impact. Armed with the Network’s Learning Framework, a guide that
outlines specific factors and methods to measure biological and socioeconomic
conditions at project sites, members set out to collect data to help determine the
conditions under which locally-managed marine areas (LMMAs) work, do not work, and
why.
Starting out with a handful of sites in 2000, the Network currently has more than 300
sites in different stages of implementation and monitoring, covering over 10,000 square
kilometers. Of these, the Network has analysed data from 40 sites to assess the
effectiveness of management efforts. A meta-analysis approach was used to compare
datasets from various sites collected using different monitoring methods and indicator
species. Comparisons were made by correlating select socioeconomic factors against
overall LMMA Success. “LMMA Success” was determined by a change in live hard
coral cover or abundance of specific indicator species.
While anecdotal evidence from various sites points to “LMMA success,” data results
show both positive and negative correlations between certain factors and LMMA success.
For example, increased environmental knowledge among community members correlates
to increased LMMA success, however an increased level of formal education negatively
affects LMMA success (this may be attributable to fishers learning more effective and/or
destructive ways of fishing rather than the importance of conserving and managing
marine resources). One of the biggest lessons learned is the need to collect more data on
common indicators from all sites in order to make useful comparisons. Other major
outcomes of these efforts include increased community cohesion and empowerment,
revival of traditional practices, and increased income in some cases. The Network hopes
to draw more formal conclusions as more data become available.
Poster Mini-Symposium 23: Reef Management
23.1029
Management Strategies And Intensity Of Use Of The Cozumel Reefs National Park,
Mexico
Rodolfo RIOJA-NIETO 1 , Charles SHEPPARD* 1
1 Biological Sciences, University of Warwick, Coventry, United Kingdom
The Cozumel Reefs National Park is a heavily utilized Marine Protected Area (MPA) which
provides around 30% of the revenue for Mexico’s entire National Parks System. We utilized a
Geographic Information System (GIS) and Local Ecological Knowledge from diving operators
to evaluate effectiveness of park management strategies by comparing conditions in the MPA
with an adjacent, unmanaged area. Aerial photography, a Landsat 7 TM image and hierarchical
analysis of the benthic coverage of 318 ground truthed sites were used to produce a thematic
map of the whole Island with 15 habitat classes. Using a GIS, habitat β-diversity, total area and
fragmentation and size distributions of the patches of each of the habitat classes were compared.
Coral reef diving sites, their ecological attributes (live coral cover, coral and fish species
richness, reef fish abundance, presence of algae and presence of coral bleaching) and their
intensity of use were characterized through the use of questionnaires given to 49 dive masters
and diving instructors from the Island. Answers were assigned a score and ranked for analysis.
The area and fragmentation of several habitat classes differed between managed and
unmanaged areas, and a significantly higher β-diversity (p