St. Kitts and Nevis: Coral Reef Report Card 2016

The Eastern Caribbean Seascape is an arc of islands linked through diverse coral reef ecosystems, oceanic currents, migratory pathways and a rich cultural heritage. The Eastern Caribbean Coral Reef Report Cards are a series of individual reports for the6 participating countries and provide an easy-to-understand summary of the state of the region's marine resources. The Report Cards collate data from 277 comparable coral reef surveys and map in detail 383 km2 of coral reefs, 19 km2 of mangrove, 286 km2 of seagrass, 44 designated and 50 proposed Marine Managed Areas (MMA).The Report Cards provide an initial baseline on the current state of the reef and identify gaps. Reporting this type of information will help track progress in protecting reefs and inform future monitoring and management. The vision is to produce report cards every 2 years and share data through the CaribNode regional spatial data platform. Future report cards will include key socioeconomic and management effectiveness information.Each Report Card includes information on:Key Habitats (location and extent of coral, mangrove, seagrass)Reef Health Index (a measure of the health of four key coral reef indicators)Marine Managed Areas (size and location of designated and proposed areas

The ecological basis of fishery yield of the Puerto Rico-Virgin Islands Insular Shelf: 1987 Assessment

A literature review was conducted to locate information on the flow of energy from primary producers to the fishery stocks of the Puerto Rican-Virgin Islands insular shelf. This report uses site-specific information to describe the major ecological subsystems, or habitats, of the region, to identify the more common species and the subsystems in which they occur, to quantify productivity and biomass, and to outline trophic relationships. Discussions on each topic and subsystem vary in substance and detail, being limited by the availability and accessibility of information. (PDF contains 189 pages) Seven distinct subsystems are described: mangrove estuary, seagrass bed, coral reef, algal plain, sand/mud bottom, shelf break, and overlying pelagic. Over 50 tables provide lists of species found in each habitat on various surveys dating back to 1956. Estimates of density, relative abundance, and productivity are provided when possible. We evaluated whether sufficient information exists to support an analysis of the energy basis of fishery production in the area, beginning with the design and development of an ecosystem model. Data needs in three categories - species lists, biomass, and trophic relations - were examined for each subsystem and for each of three species groups - primary producers, invertebrates, and fish. We concluded that adequate data, sufficient for modeling purposes, are available in 16 (25%) of 64 categories; limited data, those requiring greater extrapolation, are available in 35 (55%) categories; and no data are available in 13 (20%) categories. The best-studied subsystems are seagrass beds and coral reefs, with at least limited data in all categories. Invertebrates, the intermediate link in the food web between primary producers and fishes, are the least quantified group in the region. Primary production and fishes, however, are relatively well-studied, providing sufficient data to support an ecosystem-level analysis and to initiate a modeling effort

Grenada Carriacou Petite Martinique

The Eastern Caribbean Seascape is an arc of islands linked through diverse coral reef ecosystems, oceanic currents, migratory pathways and a rich cultural heritage. The Eastern Caribbean Coral Reef Report Cards are a series of individual reports for the6 participating countries and provide an easy-to-understand summary of the state of the region's marine resources. The Report Cards collate data from 277 comparable coral reef surveys and map in detail 383 km2 of coral reefs, 19 km2 of mangrove, 286 km2 of seagrass, 44 designated and 50 proposed Marine Managed Areas (MMA). The Report Cards provide an initial baseline on the current state of the reef and identify gaps. Reporting this type of information will help track progress in protecting reefs and inform future monitoring and management. The vision is to produce report cards every 2 years and share data through the CaribNode regional spatial data platform. Future report cards will include key socioeconomic and management effectiveness information. Each Report Card includes information on:Key Habitats (location and extent of coral, mangrove, seagrass)Reef Health Index (a measure of the health of four key coral reef indicators)Marine Managed Areas (size and location of designated and proposed areas

Characterization of Navassa National Wildlife Refuge: A preliminary report for NF-06-05 (NOAA ship "Nancy Foster", April 18-30, 2006)

Navassa is a small, undeveloped island in the Windward Passage between Jamaica and Haiti. It was designated a National Wildlife Refuge under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 1999, but the remote location makes management and enforcement challenging, and the area is regularly fished by artisanal fishermen from Haiti. In April 2006, the NOAA Center for Coastal Fisheries and Habitat Research conducted a research cruise to Navassa. The cruise produced the first high-resolution multibeam bathymetry for the area, which will facilitate habitat mapping and assist in refuge management. A major emphasis of the cruise was to study the impact of Haitian fishing gear on benthic habitats and fish communities; however, in 10 days on station only one small boat was observed with five fishermen and seven traps. Fifteen monitoring stations were established to characterize fish and benthic communities along the deep (28-34 m) shelf, as these areas have been largely unstudied by previous cruises. The fish communities included numerous squirrelfishes, triggerfishes, and parrotfishes. Snappers and grouper were also present but no small individuals were observed. Similarly, conch surveys indicated the population was in low abundance and was heavily skewed towards adults. Analysis of the benthic photoquadrats is currently underway. Other cruise activities included installation of a temperature logger network, sample collection for stable isotope analyses to examine trophic structure, and drop camera surveys to ground-truth habitat maps and overhead imagery. (PDF contains 58 pages

Economic profile of Florida's marine life industry

The marine life industry in Florida is defined as the harvest of live marine specimens (fish and invertebrate species including plants, live rock and sand, and small “critters”) for commercial use, primarily aquariums. This paper summarizes data collected on the industry since 1990, including total landings, revenues, and trends over time. Regional analysis shows where the primary collecting areas are located in Florida. Seasonal analysis shows when the majority of landings occur within the year. Statistics on the number of participants by type (i.e., collector versus wholesaler) provide insight into the size of the industry. Trends are evaluated in terms of changes across the 9-year period from 1990 to 1998. In general, the number of licensed collectors has increased substantially, landings of fish and animal invertebrates peaked in 1994, angelfish dominated the fish landings, live rock dominated the invertebrate landings, and the average landings per trip have remained relatively constant. (67pp.

A 1200-year record of parrotfish teeth suggests centuries of overfishing in Belize.

Humans have utilized the Mesoamerican Reef for millennia but the effects of prehistorical and historical fishing on this ecosystem remain understudied. To assess long-term trends in reef fish abundance in the central Belizean portion, we used three reef matrix cores from this region to construct a record of parrotfish (Labridae) tooth abundance relative to the total number of all fish tooth subfossils. Parrotfish positively affect reef accretion rates and play a pivotal role in maintaining reefs in a coral-dominated state. Our study examined a 1200-year record across three coral cays: Elbow and Lagoon Cays and Bakers Rendezvous. Despite initial increases of fish tooth abundance at all three cays, declines were observed well before modern reef degradation. At Elbow Cay, an initial decline, likely due to Pre-Columbian Maya fishing, appears to be halted near the time of Spanish arrival. A subsequent decline begins at Elbow and Lagoon Cays likely due to Spanish colonization. The religious practices of the Catholic Spanish and the arrival of English privateers and logwooders likely increased fishing pressure. Bakers Rendezvous shows rapid accretion and parrotfish tooth accumulation as well as high tooth abundances, even as the other two cays show declines. Its sharper, more recent decline is likely the result of either the use of new, more southern fishing territories for Catholic Maya converts, the 1832 founding of Stann Creek Town by the Catholic Garifuna, or an interaction of the two. Our data suggest that the origins of reef degradation began hundreds of years before modern declines

Summary of Coral Cay Conservation's habitat mapping data from Utila, Honduras

IIThe coral reefs of Honduras are of vital national and international importance,both ecologically and economically, but are threatened because of rapid economicand population growth.? During work on Utila between 1999 and 2000 (the ?Bay Islands 2000? project),Coral Cay Conservation developed a programme of surveys, training andconservation education aimed at assessing the status of local reefs and improvingenvironmental awareness amongst neighbouring communities.? This summary report provides an overview of the habitat mapping data collectedby the Bay Islands 2000 project.? CASA provided software, hardware and skills, on a charitable basis to ensure thatthe data collected by CCC could be developed into a GIS, not only for mappingthe status of the coral reefs of Honduras, but also to provide analysis of the aerialextent of these reefs.? Data were collected within individual ?study areas?, to facilitate analysis at a rangeof spatial scales, and utilised the CCC standard baseline survey technique for therapid assessment of the characteristics of reef communities. The surveys,therefore, utilised a series of transects, perpendicular to the reef.? Baseline transects discriminated nine benthic and six geomorpholgical classeswhich indicates Utila has a high habitat diversity. Habitat diversity is importantsince the number of habitat types has been shown to be a good representation ofspecies biodiversity.? The nine benthic classes that were distinguished were all relatively coral poorbecause of a suite of relatively long-term local and regional factors, exacerbatedby the combination of Hurricane Mitch and coral bleaching in 1995 and 1998.? Damselfish were the most abundant reef associated fish recorded during baselinetransect surveys. Commercially important fish were less abundant that wouldnormally be expected in unfished systems.? A recurring pattern in the baseline transect data was the greater abundance anddiversity of fish in coral rich classes. However, although the link between fishabundance and coral cover was clear, not all species were necessarily mostabundant in the most coral rich areas.? Invertebrates were generally uncommon, partly because of fishing pressure, andthe abundances of many invertebrate taxa were correlated with coral cover.? A habitat map is presented within this report as an indication of the distribution ofhabitat types around Utila.? Using the map, estimates of areal extents of each benthic class and habitat type areinstructive. For example, there is only approximately 27 km2 of reefal habitatsaround Utila. Furthermore, the area supporting the most coral rich benthic classesis only approximately 4 km2 (15%). These statistics both highlight the damagecaused by the bleaching event and Hurricane Mitch and other anthropogenicimpacts and the need to conserve remaining coral rich areas.? If further reserves were to be created, it would be important to try to protect arange of reef and habitat types. For this reason, it appears that the Turtle HarbourWildlife Refuge is well placed since this areas includes a wide range of habitattypes. However, placement of reserves in Utila should favour relatively coral richhabitats over sand dominated areas.? This study led to six recommendations:Summary Utila habitat mapping reportIII? One or more agencies should collect additional ground-truthing data fromaround Utila to facilitate both classification of currently ?Unknown? polygonsand an accuracy assessment of the map.? Establish an integrated GIS and associated meta-database for Utila, includingdata from the Bay Islands 2000 project.? Examine the potential of using data collected by the Bay Islands 2000 projectas the basis of national habitat classification scheme and subsequent nationalhabitat map.? Continue to aim to establish one or more additional multiple use marineprotected areas around Utila, with an integrated monitoring programme tomeasure their efficacy, and strengthen the enforcement of regulations in theTurtle Harbour Wildlife Sanctuary. Establish regulations, and enforce existinglegislation, to minimise the detrimental effects of coastal development on reefhealth.? Additional marine reserves in Utila should integrate factors such as thepreference of many fish species for coral rich habitats and the protection ofareas incorporating a range of habitat types, including mangroves and seagrassbeds, in order to allow for nursery areas, ontogenetic shifts and species thatrely on non-coral rich habitats. The corollary of the preference of fish speciesfor coral rich habitats is to protect coral cover within the reserves.? The reef on the south coast of Utila appears to be a good candidate forprotection because it is relatively sheltered from storm and hurricane damage

Freeing Nemo

Floating on the surface of the water, I observe the life teeming below me. The waves were carrying my body further and further into the beautiful reef; but all I was conscious of was the cleaner wrasse below bouncing from fish to fish, the parrotfish scraping algae from the coral, and the anemone protecting the ornate clownfish living within. [excerpt