A guide for planners and managers - IUCN

Background
PART III
Case Histories of Marine Protected Areas
8. Florida Keys: Distant Influence
on Coral Reefs
Lying parallel to the Florida coast is a barrier reef more than 200 miles long. Parts
of the reef system were designated as marine protected areas some time ago: John
Pennekamp Coral Reef Park combined with Key Largo National Marine Sanctuary
(103 square nautical miles) designated in 1961 and 1975; and the Looe Key National
Marine Sanctuary (5.32 square nautical miles) in 1981. The management of these
protected areas was focused primarily on various sources of direct, in situ, impact
to the coral reef resources and depletion of reef populations. The idea was to prevent
damage from boat anchors, boat groundings, harvesting, and diver impact—they proved
to have some limited success in protecting the coral reefs. Other management
strategies such as gear restrictions and prohibitions on spearfishing and the harvest
of invertebrates have shown some success. However, something was missing from
the protection scheme.
In 1990, the U.S. Congress expanded the coral reef programme greatly by
designating an area of 2800 square nautical miles for conservation. This area—the
Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary—includes the previous protected areas and
encompasses 220 miles of coral reef tract that parallels the island chain of the Florida
Keys. Also contained within its boundary are vast seagrass communities, mangrove
habitats, hard bottom communities, thousands of patch reefs, over two dozen shallow
bank reefs, and a reef habitat (intermediate to deep) that runs almost continuously
for the length of the reef tract.
Problem
The problem is that regardless of all the management arrangements, the coral reefs
and coral reef resources of the Florida Keys are declining (Figure III-6). Clearly, the
management programme for Key Largo and Looe Key was not sufficient to prevent
the decline of the coral reef resources from impacts originating outside their
boundaries. No matter how many mooring buoys were installed in the Sanctuaries,
or how many times the education efforts helped keep boats from running aground,
the health of the coral continued to decline.
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