Coral Reef Monitoring Project Executive Summary

EPA Science Advisory Panel

Key Colony Beach, December 5-6, 2000
1996-2000 CRMP Team (alphabetically):
Bobby Barratachea, Mike Brill, Mike Callahan, John Dotten, Phil Dustan, Dave Eaken, Katie Fitzsimmons, Keith Hackett, Walt Jaap, Jeff Jones, Jim Kidney, Vladimir Kosmynin, James Leard, Sarah Lewis, Matt Lybolt, Doug Marcinek, Ouida Meier, Leanne Miller, Jamie O'Brien, Katie Patterson, Matt Patterson, Jim Porter, Tom Trice, Jennifer Wheaton

INTRODUCTION
The Florida Keys costal ecosystem exhibits the typical Caribbean pattern: mangroves at the costal interface and a mosaic of sedimentary, sea grass, hard bottom, and coral reef habitats off the coast.  Coral reefs are located predominately on the ocean side of the Keys.  Hard bottom habitat exists on the ocean side and in Florida Bay as well.  Coral reefs are the least abundant of the benthic habitat types, estimated to comprise approximately one percent of the sea floor within the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary (FKNMS).  The northern latitude and flooding of Florida Bay 4,000 years before present, represent an unfavorable habitat setting.  Frequent hurricanes, bleaching episodes, and intensive anthropogenic activities in the Florida Keys coastal area are additional negative factors affecting the coral reef ecosystem.

The Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary and Protection Act (HR5909) designated over 2,800 square nautical miles of costal waters as the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.  In cooperation with NOAA, the US Environmental Protection Agency and the State of Florida implemented a Water Quality Protection Program to monitor sea grass habitats, coral reefs, and hard bottom communities, and water quality.

The Coral Reef Monitoring Project (CRMP) sampling strategy and methods were developed in conjunction with EPA, FKNMS, Continental Shelf Associates and the Principal Investigators in 1994.  The major criteria for coral reef monitoring included Sanctuary-wide spatial coverage, repeated sampling, and statistically valid findings to document status and trends of the coral communities.  Results are useful to the public, the research community, and assist managers in understanding, protecting, and restoring the living marine resources of the FKNMS.

METHODS
Sampling site locations were chosen using stratified random (US EPA E-maps) procedures.  Forty reef sites located within 5 of of the 9 EPA Water Quality Segments were selected in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary during 1994; permanent station markers were installed in 1995.  Sampling was initiated in 1996 and 160 stations among 40 sites were sampled through 2000.  Three additional sites were installed and sampled in the Dry Tortugas beginning in 1999.  The project's 43 sampling sites include 7 hard bottom, 11 patch, 12 offshore shallow, and 13 offshore deep reef sites.

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