Management Plan - Glover's Reef Marine Reserve

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Glovers Reef Marine Reserve – Management Plan James and Ginsburg (1979) described both the leeward and windward deep reefs of Glover’s based on their observations to depths of 300 m from a research submersible. The deepestgrowing hermatypic coral observed was a small Agaricia fragilis at 102 m on the eastern side of Glover’s. The reefs of Glovers were impacted by the coral bleaching event in 1995 (McField (2001)). Three sites surveyed on the Atoll in October and November 1995, representing patch reef, back reef and fore reef, showed 44%, 27%, and 61% of the reefs affected, respectively. When these sites were re-surveyed in May 1996, the degree of bleaching had decreased to 6%, 7% and 12%, repectively (McField, 2001). Glovers’ reefs were again severely impacted by both a mass bleaching event and hurricane Mitch in 1998, and again in 2005 (Table 14). Hurricane Mitch, the fourth strongest storm documented this century with winds of 290 km/hr, passed about 120 miles southeast of Glover’s Table 14: Local and Regional Hurricane Impacts Event Year Scale of event Coral bleaching event 2005 Extent of bleaching unknown Hurricane Ivan 2004 Increased turbidity, coral rubble deposited on southeast beach of Half Moon Caye Hurricane Iris 2001 Hurricane Keith 2000 Hurricane Mitch 1998 Category 5 Coral bleaching event 1998 Catastrophic bleaching Coral bleaching event 1995 Small scale bleaching White band disease on Since late Major Caribbean wide die-off Acroporid corals Viral epidemic in urchin Diadema antillarum population 1980s 1983 Major Caribbean wide die-off Reef during the last days of October 1998. Preliminary reports described extensive damage to the windward eastern and northern fore-reefs, with both branching and massive corals affected down to a depth of 10 m. Many of the corals remaining were severely abraded, with little living tissue remaining. Coral mortality was estimated to be 60 – 70% (Bright 1999). Investigations by Kramer & Kramer (2000) indicated that shallow (1–3 m) reef and deep (8 –17 m) fore reef sites on Glovers experienced the most disturbance of Belize’s three atolls. Shallow windward reefs suffered severe hurricane damage and recent mortality, while bleaching and diseases were more prevalent on the leeward reefs. These reefs still displayed remnant bleaching (mainly ‘pale’) up to 10 months after the mass-bleaching event recorded in September 1998. They also reported a consistently high incidence of coral disease on the Glovers fore reefs compared to other fore reef sites surveyed in Belize. In relation to damage from hurricane Mitch, the east facing shallow reef sites sustained the greatest damage, with the NE Glover’s survey site having the highest degree of damage in the entire Mesoamerican barrier reef region. In addition, exposed deep fore reef sites on Glovers had higher than average damage, consisting primarily of knocked over or broken corals. This region had coral recruitment reduced by 80% (Mumby 1999). Glovers also showed higher levels of recent coral mortality than the other two atolls; this was especially high for the East Glovers site, located on the fore reef near Middle Caye. Total mortality was higher on the shallow reefs, in some cases as high as 80% (Kramer & Kramer 2000). McField (2001) surveyed two windward fore reef sites on the Atoll in 1997 and 1999. Coral cover at the Middle Caye site declined over the two-year period from 14.6% to 6.4%, and at the site on the southeast end of the atoll it also declined, from 23.6% to 11.1%. Species diversity also declined at both sites. At the same time, substrate cover increased proportionally, with macroalgae showing a slight, non-significant decline. These changes were attributed to the impacts of the bleaching event and hurricane Mitch in 1998. Wildtracks / Wildlife Conservation Society, 2007 31
Patch Reefs Glovers Reef Marine Reserve – Management Plan The majority of the more than 850 patch reefs within the Atoll’s lagoon are distributed randomly with the exception of those in the western and northeast portions of the Atoll where they are aligned along NNE-striking trends. They range in size from about 10 m to a few hundred meters (Wallace 1975). They consist of massive corals such as Montastrea, Diploria, Siderastrea and Porites, with occasional thickets of Agaricia and Acropora cervicornis; sea fans and brown algae are abundant on dead coral surfaces (McClanahan & Muthiga 1998). In the 1970s, three distinct coral assemblages were recognized along a north-south transect namely: Montastrea, Acropora and Algae-Porites. This distribution mimicked the zonation on the seaward reef tracts, and was believed to be a response to disturbances such as hurricanes (Wallace & Schafersmann 1977). A list of coral species of the patch reefs provided by Wallace (1975) is shown in Appendix 4. More recent studies have also focused on the composition of the Atoll’s patch reefs, and show that they have undergone a major change in their ecology. They have experienced a 75% reduction in coral cover (with M. annularis showing the least loss), a 99% loss in cover of Acropora spp., and a 315% increase in algae cover, particularly of the erect brown algae Lobophora (McClanahan & Muthiga 1998). The cause for this dramatic change over the past 25 years is complex, and probably due to several inter-related factors, such as reduced herbivory, increased level of nutrients, and disease. The patch reefs no longer exhibit the zonation described earlier by Wallace and Schafersmann (1977). Furthermore, the phase change in community structure has resulted in the 80% hard coral cover and 20% algae cover reported by Wallace (1975) to be transformed to a 20% coral cover and 80% algae cover (McClanahan & Muthiga 1978). Lagoon Floor The lagoon floor, which ranges in depth from 6 to 18 m, is comprised of predominantly fine sand and mud sized carbonate sediment. It supports a sparse flora of Thalassia and algae, mainly Penicillus with some Halimeda (Wallace 1975). Some deeper areas of the lagoon are almost completely barren of vegetation, though echinoderms and other invertebrates are common. Wildtracks / Wildlife Conservation Society, 2007 32
Page 1 and 2: g Plan Photographs: Glover’s Atol
Page 3 and 4: Contents Glover’s Reef Marine Res
Page 5 and 6: Tables Glover’s Reef Marine Reser
Page 7 and 8: Maps Glover’s Reef Marine Reserve
Page 9 and 10: Glover’s Reef Marine Reserve - Ma
Page 11 and 12: Map 1: Glover’s Reef Atoll UTM Co
Page 15 and 16: 2.3 National Context 2.3.1 Legal an
Page 19 and 20: Environmental Services of the Prote
Page 25 and 26: 2.4 Physical Environment of Managem
Page 27 and 28: Glovers Reef Marine Reserve - Manag
Page 29 and 30: 2.4.3 Bathymetry Glovers Reef Marin
Page 31 and 32: 2.4.4 Tides and Water Movement Glov
Page 35 and 36: Map 3: Ecosystems of Glover’s Ree
Page 37: Peripheral Reefs Glovers Reef Marin
Page 41 and 42: Map 4: Location of Cayes Glovers Re
Page 47 and 48: 2.5.3 Fauna Mammals Glovers Reef Ma
Page 51 and 52: Economically Important Species Ther
Page 53 and 54: Table 16: Conch catches from Glover
Page 55 and 56: Table 18: Maximum Nassau Grouper co
Page 63 and 64: 2.6.2 Archaeological Sites Glovers
Page 65 and 66: generally have dive guides resident
Page 67 and 68: 3. Conservation Planning Glovers Re
Page 69 and 70: Hawksbill Turtle Glovers Reef Marin
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Glovers Reef Marine Reserve - Manag
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Figure 52: Damage to Reef (Habitat
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3.2.5 Land development/habitat loss
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3.2.8 Dredging Dredging and Associa
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4. Management Planning 4.1 Manageme
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4.4.2 Management Zones Glovers Reef
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Map 6: Glover’s Reef Marine Reser
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Conservation Zone The Conservation
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Spawning Aggregation Site This zone
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Natural Resource Management Program
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Natural Resource Management Program
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Monitoring Activities 2007 - 2012 R
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4.5.4 Public Use Programme Glovers
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Public Use Programme Activities 200
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4.5.6 Administrative Programme Glov
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Table 27: Charges for licenses and
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References Glovers Reef Marine Rese
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IUCN (2007) Red List Glovers Reef M
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Measures of Success of Implementati
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Bird Species of Glover’s Reef Ato
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Table 22: Bird Species of Glover’
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Table 19: Fish Species of Glover’
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Osprey (Pandion haliaetus) Glovers
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Caribbean Reef Shark (Carcharhinus
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3. Implement environmental monitori
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Management Plan - Glover's Reef Marine Reserve

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