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  • ♪♪

  • This week on Waterways;

  • Marine Zones and the Tortugas Ecological Reserve.

  • The Florida Keys.

  • This picturesque string of islands conjures up images of

  • swaying palms trees and unforgettable sunsets,

  • yet it is most famous for the attractions

  • beneath the water line.

  • The Keys are home to the world's third largest,

  • and North America's only, barrier coral reef.

  • Novice snorkelers and experienced SCUBA divers come

  • from around the globe to discover the awe-inspiring

  • beauty of the Keys reef which stretches from north of Key

  • Largo west through the Dry Tortugas.

  • The coral reef ecosystem, with its seagrass flats and mangrove

  • fringed islands, also supports a robust recreational fishing

  • industry and almost 13 million pounds of commercial seafood

  • landed annually in Monroe County.

  • Keys waters are diverse, abundant,

  • and seemingly limitless.

  • But a calm sea can often hide trouble below the surface.

  • Despite the aura of endlessness,

  • the waters of the Keys are fragile.

  • Finite.

  • And they have a long history of human influence.

  • The Keys have changed immensely over the past century.

  • To accommodate trains, and later cars, island passes were filled

  • and new islands were created, literally reshaping the Keys.

  • To satisfy demand for waterfront property and accommodate a

  • growing population, more than 124 miles of canals were dredged

  • from the islands a length almost as long as the entire

  • Overseas Highway!

  • During the development boom of the 1950s through 70s, many

  • acres of tropical hardwood hammocks in the Florida Keys

  • were cleared to provide land for housing and commercial

  • development, and more than 50 percent of the historic mangrove

  • habitat was eliminated.

  • Over the last century, the Keys have been subject to over

  • fishing of grouper, sea turtles, and queen conch, resulting in

  • the listing of these species as endangered or protected.

  • And since the 1970s, the Keys marine ecosystem has experienced

  • mass die offs of important species:

  • long-spined sea urchins from disease,

  • and branching corals such as elkhorn and

  • staghorn from disease, bleaching and hurricanes.

  • In 1960, to address the declines in Keys coral reefs, John

  • Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park was established off Key Largo as

  • the world's first underwater park.

  • Continued environmental concerns prompted the designation of Key

  • Largo National Marine Sanctuary in 1975 and Looe Key National

  • Marine Sanctuary in 1981.

  • However, even after these sanctuaries were established,

  • pollution, overfishing, physical impacts, and user conflicts

  • continued to occur.

  • And throughout the 80s we started seeing all sorts of

  • impacts on our coral reefs.

  • We started seeing degraded water quality; we were seeing

  • increases in use of the resources; we were seeing more

  • and more boaters in the Keys and we were seeing more and more

  • inexperienced boaters in the Keys.

  • And that was resulting in a lot of vessel grounding on the

  • shallow reefs, on the seagrasses.

  • Mounting threats to the health and future of the coral reef

  • ecosystem in the Florida Keys would then prompt Congress to

  • take action to further protect this fragile natural resource,

  • one of the nation's great underwater treasures.

  • Following three major ship groundings within seventeen

  • days, in October and November of 1989, Congressman Dante Fascell

  • from Florida worked with Senator Bob Graham to craft the Florida

  • Keys National Marine Sanctuary and Protection Act.

  • And in November of 1990 President Bush signed into law

  • the first congressionally designated sanctuary.

  • The Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.

  • This new sanctuary incorporated the preexisting Key Largo and

  • Looe Key sanctuaries to protect 2,800 square nautical miles of

  • spectacular, unique, and nationally

  • significant marine resources.

  • The sanctuary is home to the world's third largest barrier

  • reef, extensive seagrass beds, more than 1,700 mangrove-fringed

  • islands, and more than 6,000 species of marine life.

  • It also preserves a part of our nation's history with countless

  • shipwrecks and other archeological treasures.

  • This ecosystem is the marine equivalent of a tropical rain

  • forest.

  • It supports high levels of biological diversity, but is

  • fragile and easily susceptible to damage from human activities.

  • But one thing that was really key to this particular sanctuary

  • is that Congress directed NOAA to consider spatial and temporal

  • zoning to better ensure the protection of Sanctuary

  • resources.

  • Marine zoning.

  • Just as areas of land may be set aside for specific uses, so too

  • can parts of the ocean.

  • Marine zones can help protect sensitive natural resources from

  • overuse, separate conflicting uses, and preserve the diversity

  • of life and the integrity of habitat.

  • In 1997, after numerous public meetings, workshops, and

  • extensive public input, the sanctuary implemented its first

  • management plan, which included the country's first

  • comprehensive marine zoning plan.

  • Later, in 2001, after an additional public process, the

  • sanctuary boundary was expanded slightly and the Tortugas

  • Ecological Reserve was added to the zone plan.

  • Today, the sanctuary protects 2,900 square nautical miles and

  • employs five different zone types,

  • each with a specific purpose.

  • [Sound of teletype]

  • Our sanctuary preservation areas are our smaller zones.

  • They are set aside to heavily used areas, like the top of Looe

  • Key Reef for example, where you have tens of thousands of divers

  • every year that want to go and see the spectacular coral reefs

  • but they don't necessarily want to compete with spear fishermen,

  • with marine life collectors, or boats trolling over them.

  • [Sound of teletype]

  • The second type of no-take area are the research-only areas.

  • This is a special marine zoning type that we've established in

  • this sanctuary to set aside areas for research,

  • research only.

  • [Sound of teletype]

  • So by having the existing management areas,

  • we not only recognized their authority and their jurisdiction

  • and the rules and regulations that exist through other

  • entities but we also complement them by providing sanctuary

  • regulations that they can use in their areas.

  • So together we integrate our management in the existing

  • management areas.

  • [Sound of teletype]

  • Wildlife management areas.

  • Bird rookeries, bird nesting areas, turtle beaches;

  • there are some really special resources

  • surrounding the Florida Keys.

  • What we have done with the wildlife management areas is set

  • a buffer around many of the islands where most of them are

  • restricted as far as vessel use.

  • [Sound of teletype]

  • The fifth and largest type of zone used by

  • the Sanctuary are Ecological Reserves.

  • Ecological Reserves protect an entire range of marine habitats;

  • protecting natural spawning, nursery, and permanent-residence

  • areas needed for sustainable populations of marine life,

  • and the coral reef community.

  • A lot of people think that the larger ecological reserves will

  • benefit fisheries in various ways, but we set them aside to

  • protect the biodiversity of the area.

  • We want to protect the food, the home, the habitat, of all the

  • recreationally and commercially important species, but also the

  • little blennies and gobies that just make a living there.

  • Parceling areas of water for specific uses is a task not

  • taken lightly or quickly.

  • The creation of new conservation strategies and marine zones

  • takes place through a public process that can take years.

  • During this time, the sanctuary and its advisory council

  • consider scientific research and community input, as well as how

  • these new rules would affect the environment and the economy.

  • The last thing we did there was draw lines on maps, not the

  • first thing.

  • But we spent a lot of time educating or explaining what we

  • knew, and didn't know; we had oceanographers, we had fishermen

  • talk about their experience and what they catch and where they

  • catch it and what areas they need.

  • We had lobstermen; we had recreational anglers; we had

  • divers; we had conversation orientated type people, these

  • are the things they wanted and then we set some criteria and

  • actually the last thing they did was develop the reserves.

  • It turned out to be two hundred square miles which is huge and

  • at the time the largest no-take areas in the United States.

  • With the creation of the sanctuary's network of

  • marine zones in 1997, and the addition of the Tortugas

  • Ecological Reserve in 2001, the real work had only just begun.

  • I think whenever you tell people that they can no longer go to a

  • location and do what they have traditionally done, you're going

  • to meet with resistance.

  • That's human nature and should be expected.

  • And I think that when we do that we owe it to the public, to

  • those people impacted by the management decisions to show

  • that those decisions were wise.

  • To prove the decisions were wise, there would need to be a

  • comparison of research from before and after the

  • implementation of marine zones.

  • These research projects help determine whether the marine

  • zones are meeting their intended goals, and whether Ecological

  • Reserves are succeeding in protecting habitat

  • and biodiversity.

  • Some zone monitoring projects compare how much coral is

  • present inside and outside a marine zone and how that level

  • has changed over the years.

  • Other researchers look at reef fish, and how their size and

  • populations might differ inside a zone or outside.

  • Results from these studies help sanctuary managers understand

  • how to better utilize marine zones to protect the special

  • resources of the Florida Keys.

  • Coral reefs are integrated ecosystems that depend both on

  • fish and how much seaweed they eat and the predators they eat;

  • the organisms that live on the bottom as well as the actual

  • animals and plants that live on the bottom themselves.

  • The balance between the amount of coral that's out there, the

  • amount of seaweed and the amount of bare space is telling you

  • about the health of the reef.

  • The good news is that the amounts of seaweed, which is on

  • the bottom in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary is

  • actually quite low, and it's among the lowest around the

  • Caribbean.

  • And that is probably because of the protections that are

  • afforded to fish that eat those seaweeds; particularly two kinds

  • of fish called parrotfish and surgeonfish.

  • The results that we've been coming up with and the results

  • of other studies that are running in tandem with ours are

  • telling us that the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary is

  • effective.

  • It's got more fish and less seaweed than a lot of places

  • around the Caribbean and that is a perfect concoction to recover

  • the corals in the Keys Sanctuary and in particular in the Marine

  • Protected Areas within the Keys.

  • Coral reefs, because they are slow growing and affected by so

  • many factors, take longer to show a response to marine zone

  • protection.

  • Fish, on the other hand, respond more quickly to protection and

  • through long-term monitoring scientists have been able to

  • more quickly detect changes in their populations.

  • Much of this research has been focused on the sanctuary's crown

  • jewel The Tortugas Ecological Reserve, located more than 70

  • miles west of Key West, is separated into North and South.

  • Entrance into Tortugas South is limited to permitted

  • researchers, and access to Tortugas North is controlled

  • through a simple, no-fee permit.

  • This 151-square-nautical-mile reserve is closed to all

  • consumptive use, including fishing and anchoring.

  • More than 400 species of reef fish live here, including all

  • species of grouper; and the coral here is healthier and more

  • abundant than anywhere else in the Florida Keys.Fishing and

  • anchoring are prohibited to help preserve biodiversity and

  • protect coral reef habitats.

  • I think that the Tortugas Banks are really an important part of

  • America's heritage.

  • It's one of the truly tropical ecosystems that we have in the

  • United States.

  • The marine reserve it's an ecosystem management approach.

  • You're trying to not just address one fish species or one

  • coral species; you're trying to improve the health of the whole

  • ecosystem by taking pressure off that area and giving it a chance

  • to function like it would if it was left on its own.

  • Since 1999 two years before the reserve's establishment

  • scientists from the University of Miami and NOAA Fisheries, and

  • more recently the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation

  • Commission and other institutions, have been

  • conducting surveys of Tortugas reef fish to study how zone

  • protection affects certain fish.

  • Together, scientists have undertaken thousands of scuba

  • dives to collect information on reef fish size, species,

  • abundance and habitat preference.

  • The Tortugas Ecological Reserve has had a quite dramatic impact

  • on the diversity of fishes.

  • This is most obvious in those fishes

  • that are heavily exploited.

  • We've seen the re-appearance of the two groupers, the Goliath

  • grouper and the Nassau grouper that were listed as threatened.

  • Both of those have re-appeared in our counts.

  • We've seen a number of other species that were rare are now

  • relatively common.

  • It's just dramatic.

  • You don't even have to ask a scientist.

  • Divers that have been out there will tell you, before and after,

  • they've seen the difference.

  • But just for example, a couple of figures, Red grouper

  • increased in peak fifty-fold over what they were; fifty times

  • the density of population.

  • Black grouper increased thirty times the density of the

  • population; yellow tail snapper, one of the most important fishes

  • in the Keys in terms of the quantity and the commercial and

  • recreational fishing increased four hundred percent.

  • The Tortugas Reserve, not only the Tortugas Reserve but the

  • whole Tortugas region is important to south Florida, the

  • Florida Keys because it's, because of its location.

  • It's upstream from the rest of the Keys and Miami and the east

  • coast of Florida.

  • It is important for recruitment purposes because water all flows

  • from west to east in this region and is considered a very

  • important source of fishery recruits to the rest of the

  • south Florida area.

  • The gathering or aggregating of fish for spawning purposes

  • makes them easy prey for anglers.

  • Over time, fishermen have learned to time their trips to

  • those lunar cycles when fish gather,

  • sometimes by the thousands.

  • Catching fish during a spawn

  • can be like shooting fish in a barrel.

  • Over the years, Tortugas anglers began reporting declines in the

  • once-abundant aggregations of species like mutton snapper.

  • These reports contributed to the protection of the Tortugas

  • Ecological Reserve and the spawning

  • grounds of Riley's Hump.

  • Scientific surveys would confirm that aggregations had been

  • depleted, but they began to document how reserve protection

  • would affect, and hopefully benefit,

  • these fish aggregations.

  • So visual surveys had shown that the aggregations had been

  • significantly depleted if not, ceased to exist.

  • They were seeing single fish, solitary fish, tens of fish, in

  • the early, in around 2000, when they should have been seeing

  • thousands and thousands of fish out there.

  • In 2009, eight years after the Tortugas Ecological Reserve was

  • created, scientists observed a long awaited site - the first

  • scientifically documented mutton snapper spawning aggregation at

  • Riley's Hump.

  • We were out there doing surgeries on the bottom when one

  • afternoon there was just thousands of fish there; but

  • other researchers had been going out to Riley's hump and

  • monitoring the population of spawning fish at Riley's for a

  • number of years and had slowly seen an increase; from ten to

  • hundreds of fish at a time.

  • But this summer we estimate somewhere around four thousand

  • fish were gathered out there to spawn.

  • And since then we've seen dramatic increases in adult fish

  • all throughout the Keys and south Florida and I think that's

  • partially attributed to these no-take areas, protecting

  • spawning aggregations, mainly at Riley's Hump,

  • But also, we also increase the minimum size limits in a period

  • of time which allowed some of these fish to

  • grow larger and reproduce.

  • And we've reduced the bag limits,

  • how many people could take.

  • So all these in total really resulted in a very

  • successful increase in production of fish,

  • so there is actually more fish for people

  • despite these regulations.

  • I think it would safe to say that the Keys and fishermen

  • in the Keys are directly benefit from spawning events in this

  • marine protected area.

  • [Sound of scuba diver breathing]

  • So we're not only focused on mutton snapper,

  • we're looking at yellow tail snapper,

  • we're looking at black grouper; we're using

  • acoustic telemetry methods to determine where fish go during

  • the day, what their daily routine is; and then seasonally

  • how they move with changes in temperature, during spawning

  • season where do they go?

  • In 2007, the National Park Service established the Dry

  • Tortugas National Park "Research Natural Area"

  • within Dry Tortugas National Park.

  • This 34-square-nautical-mile reserve was created next to the

  • Tortugas Ecological Reserve North to provide complementing

  • protection for the habitat and marine life that call the

  • Tortugas region home.

  • Long-term research by NOAA, the Florida Fish and Wildlife

  • Conservation Commission, and the University of Miami

  • has studied the size, movements, and population

  • dynamics of commercially important fish species inside

  • the sanctuary's Ecological Reserve, the park's Research

  • Natural Area, and adjacent areas open to fishing.

  • Research shows that fish such as mutton and yellowtail snapper,

  • and black grouper are larger and more abundant inside the

  • reserves, as well as the surrounding areas open to

  • fishing, suggesting the phenomenon known as "spill over"

  • where larger fish from protected areas will migrate outside the

  • reserves boundaries where they are available to be caught.

  • Additional research using acoustic telemetry has studied

  • the movements of fish outfitted with special acoustic tags.

  • This research relies on a network of underwater acoustic

  • receivers that receive a signal when a tagged fish swims by,

  • much like how modern electronic toll booths register when cars

  • with toll passes travel near them.

  • This array of acoustic receivers has been used by researchers

  • to identify an unprotected migration corridor

  • for mutton snapper traveling between protected spawning

  • grounds in the sanctuary's reserve and forging grounds

  • in the park's reserve. This long term monitoring is vital and

  • provides coral reef managers with the science needed

  • to protect America's great underwater treasures

  • for future generations.

  • This is part of our natural resources; the entire country

  • owns these resources and the point of the marine sanctuary is

  • to recover them so that we can have them and enjoy them and use

  • them in a sustainable way long into the future for our

  • children, grandchildren and further down the line.

  • No matter where people live they can do something

  • to help us with marine zones.

  • And in fact everyone has a role in helping us protect America's

  • only living barrier coral reef.

  • If you live in middle America think about the things that are

  • effecting the water quality.

  • Think about the watershed; and think about what you can do

  • locally to support healthy,

  • clean ecosystems coming downstream.

  • In 2012, the sanctuary, its advisory council and the

  • community began a review and reevaluation of sanctuary marine

  • zones and regulations.

  • Just as the public had helped shape the sanctuary's management

  • plan, original marine zones, and the Tortugas Ecological Reserve,

  • they will again be enlisted in an update of those conservation

  • tools.This multi-year public process will look at whether

  • sanctuary rules and marine zones are sufficient to address the

  • threats to Keys marine resources.

  • Or whether new or different strategies are needed.

  • This adaptive management is a critical tool that helps us

  • respond to changing influences and emerging threats.

  • To get involved in the process and how you can provide

  • public input to help shape Florida Keys marine

  • conservation for the future,

  • visit florida keys dot N-O-A-A dot gov.

  • There's an immediate reaction for fishermen around the coastal

  • communities to immediately think that this is about them;

  • or that this is to prohibit their activities.

  • But it's not.

  • It's really to help them.

  • It's to help the next generations.

  • When I'm thinking about the Tortugas Ecological Reserve,

  • I'm thinking about my grandchildren's grandchildren

  • that will be able to catch more mutton snapper; they will be

  • able to see fish that I used to see in the 1960s in the Florida

  • Keys; they will be able to see environments

  • like I enjoyed as a child once again.

  • ♪♪

♪♪

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