11th ICRS Abstract book - Nova Southeastern University

23.975
A Comparison Of The Permanent Marine Protected Areas Of Bermuda To Control
Sites For Anchor And Diver Damage To Hard Corals
Thaddeus MURDOCH* 1 , Mike COLELLA 2 , Matthew HAMMOND 1 , Annie
GLASSPOOL 3
1 BREAM: Bermuda Reef Ecosystem Assessment and Mapping Programme, Bermuda
Zoological Society, Flatts Village, Bermuda, 2 Fish and Wildlife Research Institute,
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commision, St. Petersburg, FL, 3 Bermuda
Biodiversity Project, Bermuda Zoological Society, Flatts Village, Bermuda
Bermuda supports the most northerly coral reefs in the world. Local management
practices treat the marine ecosystem as a highly stressed, self-sustaining entity, and are
extremely conservative, with all hard and soft corals protected from extraction since
1978, across the entire Bermuda Reef Platform. In addition, a series of permanently
buoyed MPA sites were established in the mid-1980s at the most frequently visited dive
sites, each surrounded by a ‘No fishing’ radius of between 300 and 1000 metres. These
MPA sites were established to reduce user conflicts between divers and fishermen, and
to minimize anchor damage from boats. However, the sites also attract divers and may
therefore be the focus of diving activity and diver-caused damage to corals.
The effectiveness of permanent MPA’s in protecting corals from anchor and diver
damage was assessed by comparing coral percent cover and species diversity at 4 existing
MPAs. Since each MPA site appeared to be geomorphologically unique, each MPA was
compared to two matching control sites. At each site, ten 25-m long transects were
digitally photographed at 50 frames each, and analyzed for coral cover and species
diversity using standard procedures. A separate one-way ANOVA was used to test for
differences between each MPA and either control site, using transformed data if needed.
ANOVA and post-hoc tests revealed small, but statistically significant differences in
mean coral cover between control sites and the MPAs, although the direction of these
differences was not consistent across site groups. Mean coral species diversity, as
measured by the Shannon-Weiner diversity index, peaked at the MPA in three out of four
site groups.
The results do not conclusively indicate that corals are protected from or damaged by
divers at MPA sites. Continued monitoring is needed to confirm that MPA sites are not
declining in coral condition though time.
23.976
Comparative Analysis Of Algal Cover And Coral Recruitment in Spur And Groove
Reefs in Little Cayman From 2005 To 2007
Sara KREISEL* 1 , Kim BALLARD 1 , Diana SCIAMBI 1 , Roy DUCOTE 1 , Vania
COELHO 1,2
1 CCMI, Little Cayman, Cayman Islands, 2 Natural Sciences and Math, Dominican
University of California, San Rafael
An assessment of algal cover and coral recruitment in nine spur and groove reefs was
conducted in July and August of 2005 through 2007 in Little Cayman, Cayman Islands.
Basing our methodology on the Atlantic and Gulf Rapid Reef Assessment (AGRRA)
protocol, we surveyed sites 9-15 meters deep on the south (windward) and north
(leeward) sides of the island in both protected (no-take marine reserves) and nonprotected
areas. We measured percentage cover for encrusting coralline algae, fleshy and
calcareous upright macroalgae, and number of coral recruits, by throwing a 25 x 25 cm
quadrat at every meter or odd meter intervals to the side of 10 m transect lines. The
abundance of damselfish and Diadema was also assessed along 0.5 m of the transect
lines. A total of 1512 quadrats and 265 transects were surveyed during the study period.
Between 2005 and 2007, there was a significant decrease in mean encrusting calcareous
algal cover from 19 to 9% and in mean total upright macroalgae from 44 to 39%. Fleshy
upright macroalgal cover decreased from 37 to 31% but calcareous upright macroalgal
cover increased from 7 to 8%. Mean number of coral recruits also decreased from 0.2 to
0.1 per quadrat. The prevalence of damselfish and Diadema remained statistically similar
over the three-year period, averaging 1.8 and 0.2 per transect respectively. No clear
differences were observed for protected and non-protected areas for any of the parameters
analyzed including total upright macroalgal cover, possibly due to the fact that mainly
unpalatable algae of the genera Dictyota and Halimeda were found in these reefs.
Poster Mini-Symposium 23: Reef Management
23.977
Grey Reef Shark Home Range And Behavior On Pacific Coral Reefs in Relationship To
Contaminants And Ecotourism
Phillip LOBEL* 1
1 Biology, Boston University, Boston, MA
The movement patterns of the grey reef shark, Carcharhinus amblyrhynchos, were examined at
Johnston Atoll and in Palau. The objective was to determine whether this shark species
exhibited any measurable degree of local site fidelity or if they just wandered widely and
haphazardly. At Johnston Atoll, the question concerned the degree of exposure to individual
sharks that were found in reef habitats contaminated with PCBs, Dioxins and other containants.
At Palau, the question concerned if and how far individual sharks wander beyond the
boundaries of the Blue Corner marine protected area. Sharks were captured by baited hook,
promptly tagged and released. Acoustic tags were banded onto a shark’s caudal peduncle and
tracked by strategically deployed underwater loggers. Johnston Atoll was a military base with
extensive chemical and nuclear operations since the 1930’s, this study was conducted from
1999 to 2003. The nation of Palau is a major scuba diver tourism destination and sharks are a
key attraction, this part of the study was from 2003 to 2006. The presentation will show maps of
shark movements with an analysis of diel patterns of habitat use. This research was supported
by the Army Research Office, the DoD Legacy Program and the Micronesian Shark
Foundation..
23.978
Collaborative Watershed Planning To Protect Threatened Coral Ecosystem Resources in
Coral Bay, St. John, U.s. Virgin Islands
Jennifer KOZLOWSKI* 1 , Anne KITCHELL 2
1 Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management, NOAA, Silver Spring, MD, 2 Center for
Watershed Protection, Ellicott City, MD
The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Coral Reef Conservation
Program works to bring together a variety of federal, territorial and non-governmental partners
to advance watershed planning aimed at addressing land-based sources of pollution in priority
coral reef ecosystems. A key challenge is adapting mainland watershed protection practices to
tropical island environments. The Coral Bay watershed in St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands was
chosen as a pilot to develop a modified watershed planning process encompassing typical
obstacles: working on a shoestring budget, economic and development demands, limited space,
and lack of local resources and specialized technical expertise.
The Coral Bay watershed is characterized by very steep slopes, highly erodible soils and
resultant high runoff volumes. The watershed has over 10 miles of shoreline hosting a diversity
of land uses, protected harbors, as well as fringing coral reefs, mangroves, sea grass beds, and
salt ponds. The relatively undeveloped town of Coral Bay is fighting to retain its rural character
and protect its natural resources in the face of tremendous development pressures. These
factors, combined with a large percentage of dirt roads, active construction, and no existing
stormwater management have led to excessive sediment loading to the Bay which is adversely
impacting water quality and ecologically valuable coral ecosystem resources.
A watershed management plan was drafted that contains recommendations and implementation
actions to improve planning for future development and management of stormwater, ranging
from broad scale road network planning, to demonstration retrofits, to enhanced staff capacity.
Targeted practical research is now necessary to determine the effectiveness and efficiency of
management actions, to identify development and construction practices appropriate for island
conditions, and to establish pollutant load reduction potentials and turbidity criteria.
Cooperation with local academic institutions is also needed to establish engineering curriculums
in support of on-island training and technical application.
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