Alive
Corals are delicate structures composed of thousands of tiny slow-growing
animals called polyps. Each one secretes a calcareous exoskeleton.
Colonies of thousands of coral polyps form massive reef formations.
It can take years for some corals to grow one inch. The reef is
constantly growing new colonies on top of the skeletons of older
ones.
The coral reef ecosystem of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary is alive with an abundance of fish, stony and soft corals, sponges, jellyfish, anemones, snails, crabs, lobsters, rays, moray eels, endangered sea turtles, dolphins, sea birds and other sea life. In fact, it is home to one third of Florida’s threatened and endangered species.
Mangroves
are salt-tolerant trees that provide a nesting area for a variety
of birds. The submerged roots are a nursery and breeding ground
for most of the marine life that migrates to the reef. Mangroves
trap and produce nutrients for food and habitat, stabilize the
shoreline by trapping debris and silt, and filter land-based pollutants.
Seagrasses are flowering marine plants that are an important part of the food web. They provide food for turtles, manatees, and a variety of fish, and habitat for filter-feeding organisms and foraging sealife such as sea urchins and sea cucumbers. Seagrasses are a nursery ground for pink shrimp, lobster, snapper and other sealife. They filter the water by trapping sediments, release oxygen into the water and stabilize the ocean bottom with their roots.
Diverse
Many cultural and historical resources are found within the Lower
Keys Region of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. Lighthouses
were built along the Florida Keys prior to the Civil War to prevent
shipwrecks along the reef. The Sand Key Lighthouse off Key West
and the Sombrero Lighthouse off Marathon are still navigational
aids. Numerous shipwrecks and the remains of Spanish galleons
add to the variety of swimming, snorkeling, diving, photography
and recreational boating activities within the sanctuary. Among
the many unique wreck sites is Looe Key off Big Pine Key, named
for a British war ship that wrecked on this area’s spectacular
coral formations.
In response to a growing awareness of the intrinsic environmental
and cultural value of our coastal waters, Congress created the
National Marine Sanctuary Program in 1972. The National Marine
Sanctuary Act authorizes the Secretary of Commerce to designate
special areas as national marine sanctuaries to promote comprehensive
management of their special ecological, historical, recreational,
and esthetic resources. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
(NOAA), Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management is responsible
for management of the nation’s marine sanctuaries.
North America’s only coral barrier reef and the third longest
barrier reef in the world lies about six miles seaward of the
Florida Keys, a 220-mile long string of islands extending south
and west of the Florida mainland. Coral reefs contain more varieties
of life than any other marine environment. They are part of a
fragile interdependent ecosystem that includes mangroves and seagrasses
that grow both on the ocean and bayside of the Florida Keys. In
recognition of this important environment, the Florida Keys National
Marine Sanctuary was created in 1990, extending 2800 square nautical
miles on both sides of the Florida Keys.
A comprehensive management plan
and water quality protection program was created for the sanctuary
in concert with the public, a citizen’s advisory council,
and several federal, state and local government agencies. Management
in these state and federal waters is achieved through a cooperative
agreement with the State of Florida Department of Environmental
Protection. The Lower Keys Region encompasses the area from Long
Key to the Dry Tortugas.
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