Progress report summarizing the reef fish sampling, PCB - Earthjustice

about 147 feet. The ship’s superstructure or “island” rises to within 80 feet of the
surface. The ship’s coordinates are Latitude 30º 02.6’ North and Longitude 87º 00.4’
West.
The Oriskany Reef is one of the largest single artificial reef structures in the
Northeastern Gulf of Mexico. There are 72 other public artificial reefs in the 77
square mile EELAARS and an additional 123 concrete and/or steel artificial reef
patch reef sites most of which are unpublished refugia reefs, some of which have
been utilized in scientific studies (FWC, 2011). Most of the artificial patch reefs in
the EELAARS permit area are composed primarily of individual modules whose
vertical reliefs are normally less than 10 feet (FWC, 2011). The Oriskany Reef
initially in 2006 had 144 feet of vertical relief extending from the seafloor at a depth
of 212 feet to within 68 feet of the surface. While many other smaller artificial reefs
in the EELAARS permit area are concrete or concrete and steel in composition with
individual foot prints of less than 100 square feet, the Oriskany Reef is a massive
painted steel structure with a foot print of at least 90,000 square feet (two acres).
I (D) MATERIALS AND METHODS
I (D) (1) Selection of Targeted Fish Species and Sample Size
Fish species identified for PCB analysis were recreationally targeted legal size reef
fish known from previous sampling studies in the EELAARS, from FWC and
ECMRD assessments and from personal observations to be available for anglers to
catch in the Gulf of Mexico off Northwest Florida in the general vicinity of the
Oriskany Reef.
I (D) (1) (a) Selection of Targeted Fish Species
Reef fish composition, size and abundances on smaller established reefs in the
Escambia East LAARS were previously documented by several methods. Many
smaller reefs were monitored with remotely operated video camera (ROV)
(Patterson et al., 2010), pre-sink Oriskany survey work (Snyder et al 2007), early
research studies (Bortone, et al. 1997), as well as the personal experience of the
ECMRD Project Co-Manager (Robert Turpin, personal communication). With this
information the FWC staff could generally predict the ultimate presence on the
Oriskany Reef of most recreationally targeted reef fish species expected to be found
in the EELAARS. However these studies could not predict the numbers of these
species available to capture during any given sampling period. These prior studies
and personal observations enabled the development of a target list of legal size reef
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