11th ICRS Abstract book - Nova Southeastern University

23.893
Man Made Stress Reliever? An Alternative To Natural Coral Reefs?
Petra ELMO 1 , Petra ELMO 2 , Petra ELMO* 2
1 Private, Dulles, VA, 2 private, Dulles, VA
A healthy coral reef with 50% living cover could grow 4mm per year. The average of
living cover on coral reefs world wide is 32%.
2004 worldwide 20% of coral reefs were reported as destroyed. 50% of reefs are in
danger of collapsing.
Human induced stress factors are: coral bleaching, ocean acidification, pollution, coastal
construction, over fishing and tourism.
Many small island developing states derive a large part of their income through tourism,
often through activities related to reefs (snorkeling, scuba diving).
How can some of the stress on natural coral reefs be relieved without reducing income
through tourism?
One solution could be an underwater park like the one in Grenada. It was created in 2006
at Moliniere Reef, in an area that had experienced severe hurricane damage.
The park consists of about 60 statues, each related to Grenadian history respective
folklore. The statues are made of different materials (steel, concrete). They are in 5 – 8
meters depth, so accessible to both divers and snorkelers.
Some of the exhibits already are partially covered with marine organisms. It is expected,
that over time the exhibits change their appearance due to the developing growth of
marine life on them.
The park addresses and inspires ecology, history/folklore and art.
Considering the economical success of some artificial reefs (mainly wrecks) and the
(documented) reduced pressure on nearby natural reefs it may be beneficial for natural
reefs to introduce more underwater parks like the one in Grenada.
To guarantee economical success of artificial reefs they have to be advertised. To really
reduce the stress on the surrounding natural reefs any artificial reef – be it a wreck or an
underwater park – has to be managed properly.
In my contribution I plan to address this topic.
23.894
Is A Coralline Island Mpa Within A Lagoon Seascape Effective As A Whole? A
Case Study in The South Lagoon Marine Park Of New Caledonia
Olivier CHATEAU* 1 , Laurent WANTIEZ 1
1 LIVE, University of New Caledonia, Noumea, New Caledonia
Acoustic telemetry was used to examine the movement patterns of four commercial fish
species (45 fish; Epinephelus maculatus, Plectropomus leopardus, Chlorurus
microrhinos and Scarus ghobban) in a fragmented habitat in the lagoon of New
Caledonia, over a period of 17 months. The studied area included a marine reserve and
two unprotected reefs separated by large areas of lagoon soft bottoms (900 m and 2000
m). The fish were detected between few hours and 530 days. Most of them realized large
movements within reef (several kilometres) during their monitored period. This result
confirms that the closure of only part of a reef structure may not be effective for all the
studied species. Nine fish (20% of the studied fish) and at least one specimen of each
species carried out inter-reef movements during their monitored period. All of them
moved across the reserve boundaries at least once. The minimum distance covered by
these fish over the soft bottoms between the reefs ranged from 500 m to 10.3 km (mean:
4.3 ± 3.6 km). If the objective of the reserve is to protect resident populations, we suggest
that larger reserves including several reefs, spawning areas and lagoon soft bottoms
would be necessary. Another objective of marine reserves is the maintenance of adjacent
fisheries through the net export of fish biomass from the reserve. Our results suggest that
the three studied reefs are connected and show that 20% of studied fish were more or less
exposed to fishing. Even if net export was not clearly demonstrated, our results support
the hypothesis that the studied reserve could benefit the adjacent fished area by spillover.
Poster Mini-Symposium 23: Reef Management
23.895
Stakeholder Perceptions And Observed Resource Quality in Caribbean Marine Reserves
Richard POLLNAC* 1 , Tracey DALTON 1 , Graham FORRESTER 2
1 Marine Affairs, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI, 2 Natural Resources Science,
University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI
Stakeholder perceptions can provide insights on environmental resource quality as well as
highlight key factors influencing attitudes and behaviors associated with a resource. This study
examines relationships between perceived and observed resource quality measures in marine
reserves in the Caribbean and explores factors that contribute to congruence or dissonance
between these measures. Data from key informant interviews, structured community surveys,
and coral reef transect surveys conducted in nineteen marine reserves and their associated
communities throughout the wider Caribbean are examined in terms of degree of homogeneity
in intracommunity responses, degree of agreement between community members and project
personnel, and congruence of responses of different responder types with observed coral and
fish conditions. Individual community member background variables such as age, years of
formal education, and occupation are examined in terms of their influences on perceived
resource quality and the congruence between these perceptions and observed quality.
23.896
Assessing Rarity Of Reef Fishes From Volunteer Fish Monitoring Data
Peter AUSTER* 1 , Brice SEMMENS 2 , Sean MONDE 1 , Kimberly BARBER 1
1 University of Connecticut, Groton, CT, 2 NOAA Northwest Fisheries Science Center, Seattle,
WA
Ecosystem approaches to management of coral reef ecosystems require data primarily focused
on dominant species. This is well justified given the important ecological role played by these
taxa. However, an important component of management includes conservation of biological
diversity where rare species may be most sensitive to change and subject to extinction (i.e.,
local, regional). The status of such species may be unclear due to rarity in systematic surveys
and surveys to assess their status generally require dedicated effort, are costly, and time
consuming. Here we assess the value of using data from volunteer fish monitoring (Reef
Environmental Education Foundation) and develop an approach for identifying species to target
field surveys. Data from Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles was used given the large number of
volunteer surveys available (n=5657 between 1995-2005). Species with sighting frequencies in
the first quartile of data were defined as “rare” (i.e., those that occurred in only 1-8 surveys
from the total pool). Analyses were performed on rare species as a group to determine limits in
habitat, depth, and range along the reef tract in order to constrain future survey requirements. In
general rare species were widespread along the leeward side of Bonaire and occurred across all
habitat types and depths. Issues related to detectability and crypsis are considered problematic
for survey design. Further analysis based on geographic range and known habitat requirements
reduced the list to those taxa which may be most at-risk and require directed assessment and
potential management attention.
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