eat
eatI have just returned from Negril, Jamaica, where I participated in The Negril Coral Reef Preservation Society's (NCRPS) 8th annual workshop, "Protecting Jamaica's Coral Reef Ecosystem," held Friday, February 12th, 1999 at Swept Away Resort. Participants engaged in open discussions on the status of Negril's coral reef ecosystem. The conference focused on Coral Reefs, Water Quality, and Human Survival Issues and had as its primary objective the presentation of the results of our robust one-year coral reef and water quality monitoring study. This unique study involved advanced research that specifically links land based nutrient sources with their ecological consequences on coral reefs. Data presented and resultant discussions provide a unique case study on the issues of the global nitrogen overload problem, expressed locally in Jamaica within the boundaries of the Negril Marine Park.
The Honorable Easton Douglas, Minister of Environment and Housing opened the conference in a compelling speech: "Nutrient levels in the coastal waters of the Negril Marine Park exceed the thresholds established by the scientific community for healthy coral reef development. As a result of an overabundance of nutrients at Negril's coral reefs, they have become eutrophic and harmful algae, rather than living coral, dominates the reefs. The sources of these harmful nutrients in our coastal waters include run-off from nutrient laden topsoil, fertilizer run-off from hillsides and agricultural lands and inadequately treated sewage. Every major river within the boundaries of the Negril Environmental Protection Area receives agricultural runoff, especially from sugar cane production, where fertilizer use is ongoing."
Participants at the workshop included representatives from a broad cross-section of the community, including government ministers from Environment and Housing, Tourism, Agriculture, Fisheries, Tourism Product Development Company, Natural Resources Conservation Authority, representatives of United States Aid to International Development (US AID) and the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP).
Dr. James Porter, (University of Georgia and member of Reef Relief's Scientific Advisory Board) presented the results of working at 5 shallow reefs within the park. His study involved the training of ncrps rangers in usepa coral reef monitoring techniques. Permanent markers, situated 20 meters apart, were located on 5 stations and underwater counts of coral species, disease, and sea urchin (Diadema) density were made within each 20 meter transect. The transects were then videoed and images transferred to digital data files on cdrom. The digital images were then counted using random point counts and the data examined for patterns of coral species richness and percent cover of benthic communities. Results showed that coral diversity and abundance increased significantly as one moves away from the Long Bay area at Negril. Dr. Porter also noted that the highest percentage cover of the reefs is macroalgae, not coral. "Negril is know for its spectacular coral formations and crystal clear water. Now some reefs have less than 5% coral cover, down 75% from their historical condition. The way I look at is water quality and environmental health are pocket book issues. Negril hard corals equal hard currency."
My presentation began with an overview of the nutrient threshold model that explains why harmful macroalgal blooms on coral reefs. Next, we presented the initial design of the integrated coral reef and water quality-monitoring program for Negril that specifically linked nutrients from various land uses on the watershed to macroalgal blooms on downstream reefs. Our results showed that the reefs are on average above the nitrogen thresholds for macroalgal blooms, explaining why Negril's reefs have become dominated by macroalgae. This has traditionally been blamed on overfishing, although there has never been any scientific proof of that. The nitrogen was high year round on both deep and shallow reefs, whereas the phosphorus concentrations significantly increased in rivers and streams and groundwaters on the watershed and throughout the entire Negril Marine Park. The nitrogen is always high is because it is constantly being transported by the groundwater. Salinity data from a site called Sands Club showed that fresh water from groundwater discharges is affecting reefs several kilometers from shore.
My videos illustrated that macroalgal blooms on deep and shallow reefs were different. Halimeda, a calcareous algae, dominated deep reefs off Green Island and Little Bay, compared to shallow reefs that were dominated by fleshy macroalgae, such as Sargassum, Dictyota Cladophora, and Chaetomorpha. Rainfall and nutrient data indicated that the massive blooms of Chaetomorpha on the shallow reefs of Orange Bay were initiated by phosphorus enrichment, apparently linked to "soak aways" (cesspits) on the adjacent watershed and possibly other sources, such as fertilizers.
I then pointed out how special radioisotope studies can be used to fingerprint the actual source of nitrogen contributing to algal blooms. The monitoring data revealed that 15N ratio in macroalgae at Davis Cove, North Negril, Long Bay and Little Bay were linked to sugarcane fertilizers, in comparison to macroalgae in South Negril and to a lesser extent Ironshore, where they were associated with sewage nitrogen.
The watershed monitoring data illustrated how different land uses enrich the rivers and streams in the area. In the low salinity areas where there are fresh water inputs, there were higher levels of nitrogen and phosphorus. All four subwatersheds produced data that salinity was inversely correlated with nitrogen and phosphorus, showing the importance of enrichment in all to nutrient delivery on downstream reefs. Both phosphorus and nitrogen concentrations on the Davis Cove subwatershed were significantly higher around canefields, showing the nutrient enrichment associated with fertilizers on cane fields in the Davis River that flows out to the reef. In the South Negril River subwatershed, the high phosphorus concentrations in the estuarine portion of this study area are linked to the considerable sewage inputs from "soak away" pits, squatter communities without sanitary conveniences, inadequately treated sewage outfalls, and livestock on the river bank.
The ncrps studies provided multiple lines of evidence linking human activities on land to degradation of the reefs. Dr. Barry Wade, of Environmental Solutions, Ltd. noted, "I would like to congratulate the ncrps and all those who are associated with putting on this seminar. Just to put a little bit of perspective on the situation, to say that ncrps has gathered what we who were working in Kingston Harbour several years ago took almost a decade to do. I congratulate you for that, but I think it is very important to say that time is of the essence. What we are seeing is that we are in the exponential phase now, and once we are in that phase, we have to act quickly, so it is not good enough to just identify the problem, we have to come up with solutions quickly and put them in place. We hope that we don't make the same mistakes in Negril as we have made in Kingston Harbour and elsewhere—to talk the subject to death, to study it to death, while the reefs are dying."
Presentations in the afternoon focused on escalating beach erosion in Long Bay. Fishermen reported that despite "no take" zones in four fish nursery bays within the Park within the past two years, they see little or no improvement in their fish stocks. Green Islanders who increased the mesh size on their fish traps from1 to 1½ inches report that since they changed over to the larger mesh size, they have caught no fish for over a year. Their perception as "Guardians of the Sea" is that land based pollution is creating an environment that is totally undesirable for the fish.
Katy Thacker, of the ncrp, highlighted the fact that rapid deterioration of the coral reefs in the Negril Marine Park is reducing the ability of the reef to protect the shoreline from erosion. Informal studies by the Society indicate that some areas of the beach have lost as much as 30 feet or more of sand during the past three years alone. Gillian Cambers (University of Puerto Rico Sea Grant) made a presentation in the afternoon entitled "Coping with Beach Erosion," which paralleled the plight of Negril with that of the West Coast of Barbados, where beach erosion is a major problem.
A general consensus from all was that greater effort must focus on real solutions. "I wish to use this occasion to underscore my Ministry's total commitment to the cause and to assure you that we, on our part, are taking all the steps necessary to give you the regulatory and other support which will be needed to achieve the task of saving the reefs and improving the water quality of Negril," stated Minister Douglas. With that type of commitment from the Government of Jamaica, we can begin designing clean up strategies for Negril.
Aftermath of Hurricane Georges
Word is that we lost over 200,000 stone crab traps as a result of Hurricane Georges. All those traps have contributed to the abundance of debris along the Keys shoreline. The county trucks are still picking up piles of land-based debris created by the storm and the Lower Keys are still reeling from the loss of affordable housing and the employees who previously lived in this area. We have participated in a few community clean-ups; the one at Boca Chica yielded lots of the usual glass and bottles, foreign items and plastics, in addition to traps, buoys and other fishing gear.
Actions to Improve Water Quality
Since our last newsletter, the Key West City Commission has passed our cesspit elimination ordinance and the No Discharge Zone resolution for all Key West waters which extend out 600'. This is great news and we thank the city commissioners and the city attorney for their good judgment. Special thanks to Jack Teague of the Monroe County Health Department for his cooperation in formulating a workable enforcement process for the cesspit ordinance. City Utilities Director David Fernandez initiated the cesspit effort; he is involved in the big job of retrofitting the leaky city sewer lines to eliminate the salt water intrusion and raw sewage overflows. As he runs new sewer lines throughout the city, this legislation provides the authority to require new sewer hook-ups for existing buildings that are not hooked up to the central sewage system. Once we rid the city sewer lines of excess salt water, the effort to reach advanced wastewater treatment through a biological treatment process will be the next priority.
The Key West Commissioners also passed legislation that will require marine operators to help improve water quality through the new Vessel and Docking Ordinance. It requires use of vessel pump-out facilities or acceptable alternatives such as a dry composting toilet, incineration device, or city sewer line hook-up for houseboats. The Florida Clean Vessel Act prohibits vessels from discharging sewage in state waters, but allows chemically-treated discharges, which could prove more harmful to the coral reef environment than raw sewage. Enforcement has been limited and many Keys commercial charterboats have been dumping their sewage directly into the ocean for years. The good news is that we are making great strides and many boats are beginning to use pumpout facilities.
After researching the subject, we learned that a municipality cannot pass laws for commercial vessels that are more restrictive than federal or maritime laws. However, Key West can seek a complete prohibition on discharging sewage by following a process that began with city approval. The next step is to provide an application for approval by the governor. The governor must then recommend that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator declare city waters to be a No Discharge Zone, enforceable by the U.S. Coast Guard. Key West should meet the qualifications, which include having adequate pump-out facilities. More are slated for installation and a mobile pump-out barge is now available to any boater on call. We will assist the city through the process.
More Science on Sewage
Recent studies by Dr. Joan Rose and others have once again confirmed that virus and pathogens are being found in the canals and nearshore waters of the Keys and the culprit is inadequately-treated sewage. Before we must close our beaches because of the health threat, county-wide action must be taken to clean up nearshore waters.
Keys-wide
County Commissioners have recently approved exemptions to stop enforcement action for properties with illegal cesspits if the area is scheduled for construction of regional waste treatment facilities. The Department of Community Affairs is watchdogging the effort to be sure that the facilities are made available in short order. The savvy residents of Cudjoe Key have organized and petitioned to be hooked up to the Key West Resort Utilities plant. Reef Relief is recommending that dry composting toilets be used, however an approved method of using graywater for irrigation to accompany the toilet is yet to be approved for use in the county and that is the sticking point.
Everglades Update
The controversial plan to restore the Everglades will be reviewed by an independent scientific panel. The move was partially in response to a letter from six prominent biologists, including E.O. Wilson and Gene Likens who criticized the plan as "deeply flawed." The biologists asked for a review from an independent scientific body, but Secretary of Interior Bruce Babbitt is proposing to establish only an oversight panel responsible for reviewing implementation of engineering plans. In addition, the establishment of the panel will be allowed only if it does not delay the plan's implementation.
President Brian Lapointe commented, "We've been down here watching the harmful effects of flawed policies for almost a decade now. Its great to finally see this problem getting the attention of such imminent scientists. Now that they have joined our call for policies based on sound science, there is a ray of hope for the future health of the linked ecosystems of South Florida.
This map identifies areas of the State of Florida
that are vulnerable to leakage from underground injection of waste
from deep injection wells.Yet the State continues to permit the
installation of such wells which allow the migration of waste
to coastal waters. The porus limestone substrata of the Florida
Keys is especially at risk due to the widespread use of shallow
injection wells which deliver nutrients to nearshore waters in
a matter of hours. In addition, aquifer storage areas anticipated
as part of the Everglades Restoration Project must be approached
with caution to guarantee the safety of fresh water needed by
the ecosystem and for drinking supplies. Reef Relief recommends
that all injected waste be stripped of harmful nutrients prior
to injection. Adapted from the FICUS website (www.ficus.usf.edu/exhibits/injection).
ANAHEIM, CALIF.—The dying corals of the Florida Keys could be an early warning of tough times ahead for the planet's environment, Cornell University ecologists worry. The reason: Hundred-year-old corals are succumbing to diseases they previously survived.
Increasing global temperatures and worsening pollution, the ecologists say, could place so much stress on ecosystems that organisms of all kinds will face new challenges.
"When we see corals that have persisted for hundreds of years suddenly die from opportunistic infections, we have to wonder what has changed in their environment," says C. Drew Harvell, Associate Professor of Ecology at Cornell, and Reef Relief Scientific Advisor.
Harvell organized a session, "Diseases of the Ocean: A New Environmental Challenge," at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) today (Jan. 22) to bring together leading microbiologists, ecologists and pathologists to evaluate the environmental threats from disease in the ocean. Speaking in the session was Kiho Kim, a postdoctoral research associate with Harvell at Cornell, who reported on an unusual disease in Florida Keys corals.
Kim said that monitoring of sea fan corals in the Keys, where up to 40% of sea fans are infected by a fungal disease and many have already died, suggests that lower waterquality and higher ocean temperatures stress corals and increase their susceptibility to disease. He said the Florida findings support a growing consensus among scientists worldwide that as ocean ecosystems become degraded they will offer more favorable places for disease outbreaks and the emergence of new pathogens.
"We didn't begin our study of sea fans to monitor death and destruction," Harvell said. "Originally, we were interested in the natural disease-resistance properties of corals, such as the anti-bacterial and anti-fungal chemicals they produce, because some of those compounds may be useful in human medicine. That disease resistance normally keeps a coral alive for hundreds of years, despite living in an ocean full of potential pathogens." She said Garrett Smith of the University of South Carolina at Aiken was responsible for tracing the sea fan disease to a common, soil-dwelling fungus. A type of Aspergillus fungus, washed out to sea by land erosion, collects on the flexible, fan-shaped surface of the corals and promotes an aspergillosis infection that first discolors and eventually causes lesions and tumors as it destroys some corals, the researchers said. Sea fans, which position themselves perpendicular to water currents are especially vulnerable to any pathogenic organisms in the passing water, Harvell noted. "Somehow, a soil pathogen that was best known for infecting aged and immune-compromised humans has crossed the land-sea barrier," Harvell said. "Now, one of our jobs is to discover what has compromised the resistance of the corals at some sites. Although a significant number of sea fans have died at a few sites, at many locales they recover from infections, pointing to the success of their natural resistance." While coral disease is reported throughout the Caribbean, the reef ecosystems of the Florida Keys may be particularly vulnerable because they are close to what ecologists call "natural stressors," such as fluctuating water temperatures and substantial freshwater runoff, Harvell said. The situation has worsened in recent years, the Cornell ecologist observed, with multiple "anthropogenic stressors," such as eutrophication, siltation and other effects of intensive human use of the land and off-shore waters.
Lately in the Florida Keys, coral death has been occurring so suddenly and rapidly that Harvell and Kim must monitor their research sites three times a year.
Harvell and Kim conduct their studies from the Keys Marine Laboratory in Long Key, with the assistance of Reef Relief in Key West. Their research is supported by the National Science Foundation, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the New England Bio Labs Foundation.
