2005 STATE OF CORAL REEF REPORT.pdf - Mote Marine Laboratory

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page ix reporting efforts, gaps in the current state of knowledge about U.S. coral reef ecosystems will be identified and filled, and that the availability of up-to-date, accurate, comprehensive scientific information will enable managers to slow or even halt the general decline in coral reef ecosystem health that has become evident in the last several decades.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The State of Coral Reef Ecosystems of the United States and Pacific Freely Associated States: <strong>2005</strong> For over three decades, scientists have been documenting the decline of coral reef ecosystems, amid increasing recognition of their value in supporting high biological diversity and their many benefits to human society. Coral reef ecosystems are recognized for their benefits on many levels, such as supporting economies by nurturing fisheries and providing for recreational and tourism opportunities, providing substances useful for medical purposes, performing essential ecosystem services that protect against coastal erosion, and providing a diversity of other, more intangible contributions to many cultures. In the past decade, the increased awareness regarding coral reefs has prompted action by governmental and non-governmental organizations, including increased funding from the U.S. Congress for conservation of these important ecosystems and creation of the U.S. Coral Reef Task Force (USCRTF) to coordinate activities and implement conservation measures [Presidential Executive Order 13089]. Numerous partnerships forged among Federal agencies and state, local, non-governmental, academic and private partners support activities that range from basic science to systematic monitoring of ecosystem components and are conducted by government agencies, non-governmental organizations, universities, and the private sector. This report shares the results of many of these efforts in the framework of a broad assessment of the condition of coral reef ecosystems across 14 U.S. jurisdictions and Pacific Freely Associated States. This report relies heavily on quantitative, spatially-explicit data that has been collected in the recent past and comparisons with historical data, where possible. The success of this effort can be attributed to the dedication of over 160 report contributors who comprised the expert writing teams for each jurisdiction. The content of the report chapters are the result of their considerable collaborative efforts. The writing teams, which were organized by jurisdiction and comprised of experts from numerous research and management institutions, were provided a basic chapter outline and a length limit, but the content of each chapter was left entirely to their discretion. Each jurisdictional chapter in the report is structured to: 1) describe how each of the primary threats identified in the National Coral Reef Action Strategy (NCRAS) has manifested in the jurisdiction; 2) introduce ongoing monitoring and assessment activities relative to three major categories of inquiry – water quality, benthic habitats, and associated biological communities – and provide summary results in a data-rich format; and 3) highlight recent management activities that promote conservation of coral reef ecosystems. Due to the wide variety of monitoring and assessment techniques employed by each jurisdiction, as well as the variations in spatial and temporal resolution of the data being collected, it is necessary to evaluate each jurisdiction independently over time and resist the temptation to compare jurisdictions. Only data collection efforts that employ consistent methods across jurisdictions will allow for the comparison of data values; such regional efforts are underway and are beginning to yield results. At this point, however, the limited ability to make cross-jurisdictional data comparisons restricted the authors of the National Summary chapter to conclusions that are primarily qualitative. Still, useful conclusions can be drawn with regard to variables being monitored, data gaps that exist, general trends in the condition of resources, and national-level progress toward conservation activities. Ultimately, the goal of this report is to answer the difficult but vital question: what is the condition of U.S. coral reef ecosystems? Coral reef ecosystems clearly are beset by a wide array of significant threats, and while managers and scientists may be able to demonstrate improvements in some aspects of an ecosystem, deterioration in other aspects may yield an overall conclusion of ‘no change’ or decline. A valid response to the above question is that it is too soon to tell, not because deterioration or recovery is in an early stage, but because the necessary long-term datasets that quantify such conditions have not been amassed. Few monitoring programs have been in place for longer than a decade, and many have been initiated only within the past two to five years. Some of these monitoring programs are still in their infancy and have not collected enough data to provide conclusive results. With continued support of these critical monitoring activities, however, trends may become more apparent over time. Major conclusions of this report related to the threats and stressors impacting coral reef ecosystems indicate that some appear to be intensifying while others are decreasing in intensity. Climate change was identified by 11 of the 14 jurisdictions (78%) as being a moderate (6) or high (5) threat to coral reef ecosystem resources. Executive Summary Sidebar page 1
Page 1 and 2: The State of Coral Reef Ecosystems
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Page 13 and 14: INTRODUCTION The State of Coral Ree
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Page 47 and 48: REFERENCES The State of Coral Reef
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The State of Coral Reef Ecosystems
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ECOSYSTEM COMPONENT Water quality 2
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WATER QUALITY USVI DPNR/DEP Water Q
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% Cover The State of Coral Reef Eco
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UVI-CMES Video Assessment of Benthi
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St. Thomas The percent cover of liv
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ASSOCIATED BIOLOGICAL COMMUNITIES T
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Historical data collected by previo
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Other Management Tools The DFW has
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REFERENCES The State of Coral Reef
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According to Sadovy (1992) export o
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32.3 (± 4.8 SE) and the number of
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BENTHIC HABITATS U.S. National Cora
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Results and Discussion By relating
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Coral reefs exhibited the highest n
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Tropical Storms Navassa’s oceanic
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Marine Debris There is a small amou
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Figure 7.1. Locator map for Florida
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and supported 4,500 jobs. Reefs off
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een well documented (http://www.pbs
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geographical determinants of water
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tinel species; they bleach at a sli
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tissue loss. The tagged population
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In a report to the U.S. Congress (U
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Ferro et al. (2003) used the RVC me
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Researchers at NCRI are also curren
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The databases of reef fish in Browa
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WATER QUALITY The State of Coral Re
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Figure 9.1. Maps of the MHI showing
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tion (Friedlander and Parrish, 1998
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Seven major wastewater treatment pl
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Figure 9.12. Commercial catch data
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Table 9.5. Extant monitoring progra
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BENTHIC HABITATS The State of Coral
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MLCD HECTARES YEAR ESTAB. OAHU The
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In late summer 2004, a second episo
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Figure 10.13. Monitoring locations
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waiian Archipelago have been measur
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The coral reefs of the NWHI are exp
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methods allows more precise detecti
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Figure 10.29. Time series of the es
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Figure 10.33. Body size (TL) freque
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Figure 11.1. Map of the locations i
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Tropical Storms Tropical storms and
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Figure 11.8. Monitoring program sit
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Results and Discussion Territory-wi
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The second artisanal fishery target
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Marine Protected Areas Program Mari
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Figure 12.1. Locator map for the Pa
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Figure 12.8. Monitoring locations i
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• Poor water circulation within P
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a subsurface ocean data platform at
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Shift in coral community structure
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ALGAE The State of Coral Reef Ecosy
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trevally [C. melampygus]). A half d
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ENVIRONMENTAL AND ANTHROPOGENIC STR
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crusting, foliose, and Millepora sp
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Fishing Commercial fishing in the F
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offshore banks (18 km x 22 km) in w
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Tropical Storms Typhoons are a rout
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about 143,400 lbs, (65,000 kg) alth
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Figure 15.16. Monitoring site locat
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DEQ Beach Water Quality Monitoring
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Figure 16.1. Locator map for Guam.
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Methods For the quantitative survey
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Results and Discussion During these
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138% within the Piti Bomb Holes Mar
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Local Action Strategies in Guam *)
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Figure 17.5. Seagrass (left) and co
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CURRENT CONSERVATION MANAGEMENT ACT
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USVI Puerto Rico Navassa Florida Fl
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ird stakes. The generally accepted
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United States Department of Commerc
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