Joe Seger
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Steve Turek |
U.S. Department of the Interior:
Protecting the Nation's Coral Reefs
The Department of the Interior
US Fish & Wildlife Service
National Park Service
US Geological Survey
Office of Insular Affairs
Minerals Management Service
Conclusion/Contacts
National Park Service
Maintaining underwater trail signs at Buck Island National Monument, U.S.V.I.
Associated Marine Habitats: Coral reefs have close ecological
linkages to other shallow-water tropical marine systems. Some reef fish
species range widely over seagrass beds for feeding and find shelter as
juveniles in mangrove swamps. Reefs protect mangroves from wave action
and mangroves, in turn, protect corals from siltation.
The National Park Service (NPS) serves as guardian of 385
units in the National Park System, protecting many of our diverse natural,
cultural, and recreational resources. NPS is a world leader in the parks and
preservation community, an environmental advocate, and a pioneer in protecting
America's open spaces. NPS achieves these goals by working cooperatively with
Federal, State, and local agencies, Native American authorities, user groups,
and adjacent landowners. Ten Park units with coral reef habitats protect
almost 275,000 acres (270,000 acres in the South Atlantic / Caribbean and
5,000 in the Pacific). Among these is Dry Tortugas National Park in South
Florida, established in 1908 as the world's first marine protected area.
On July 1, 2001, it became part of the largest fully protected underwater
ecological reserve in North America with the creation of the Tortugas Ecological
Reserve. Biscayne National Park, established in 1968 to protect and preserve
a nationally significant marine ecosystem, is the largest NPS coral reef
unit, with about 172,500 acres of coral reefs, mangrove shorelines, and coastal
estuaries. The nearshore reefs at War in the Pacific NHP, Guam, are home to
an estimated 3,500 to 4,000 species and are among the most diverse ecosystems
within the National Park System. As a global leader in the management of
underwater parks, NPS has long been involved in the development of innovative
and improved coral reef monitoring and management tools. NPS works
internationally to share expertise and knowledge with others and to improve
the level of protection afforded coral reef parks in the United States and
elsewhere.
Programs and Recent Accomplishments Related to Coral Reefs:
Education and Outreach: NPS recognizes that strengthening the
capacity of communities and individuals to conserve and use coral reefs and
related ecosystems in a sustainable manner requires effective public education.
Each of the 10 NPS units with coral reef resources offers interpretive programs,
augments school curricula, coordinates public workshops, and implements
programs for both recreational and commercial user groups, including those
engaged in fishing, boating, SCUBA diving, snorkeling, and underwater
photography. Activities range from video presentations, to underwater trails,
to extensive curriculum-based education programs. Other examples include
the much-acclaimed underwater interpretive trails established at Virgin
Islands National Park and Buck Island Reef National Monument. A new Center of
Research and Learning, hosted by Biscayne National Park, has received NPS
approval as part of a national network of Learning Centers funded by the NPS
Natural Resource Challenge, an initiative to improve natural resource stewardship.
Natural Laboratories: National parks continue their long tradition
of serving as coral reef research sites. Groundbreaking, innovative research
was conducted from 1969-71 during the Tektite I and II underwater habitat
projects at the Virgin Islands National Park. Early research at both Biscayne
and Dry Tortugas National Parks revealed the level of human impact to reefs
due to recreational diving and fishing. This research led to pioneering use
of reef mooring buoys and designated ship anchorages to reduce impact to
reefs. NPS currently administers and coordinates research on coral reefs with
other government agencies and universities on topics ranging from long-term
ecosystem monitoring of water quality, to fish landings, and to effects of
hurricanes and coral diseases. At War-in-the-Pacific National Historic Park,
assessments of the effects of reef sedimentation caused by accelerated upland
erosion from human-set savanna wild-fires will result in the development of
best management practices designed to alleviate this potentially serious
coral reef impact. A 3-year joint effort with the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration and U.S. Geological Survey has completed mapping
the coral reefs ecosystems of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Other
continuing efforts include long-term studies of endangered sea turtles.
 
Human effects: Derelict fish net entangled in coral reef (top photo);
broken coral head from ship grounding (bottom photo); Buck Island Reef
National Monument, U.S.V.I.
Restoration and Recovery: Although coral reef resources
within the National Park System receive protection as national parks,
they are continually subjected to damage from both natural events and
human stresses, such as fishing, recreational uses, environmental pollution,
anchor damage, and ship and boat groundings. Six of the ten coral reef
NPS units allow commercial fishing in accordance with their authorizing
legislation. To protect these fragile resources, four parks, Buck Island
Reef National Monument, Dry Tortugas National Park, Virgin Islands National
Park, and Virgin Islands Coral Reef National Monument, have established
fully protected zones for certain areas in which all forms of resource
extraction are prohibited. In addition, NPS is responding to degradation
or damage from impacts such as boat groundings. For example, Biscayne
National Park suffers more than 200 reported boat and ship groundings yearly.
To reverse widespread destruction of seagrass beds and coral reefs, NPS
has taken the lead in applying Natural Resource Protection Act authorities
to recover damages. Since 2000, Biscayne National Park has been awarded
$2.1 million in damages to cover the costs of assessing, monitoring, and
restoring injuries sustained by the Motor Tanker Igloo and the Tug Allie-B.
In 2000, Virgin Islands National Park completed implementation of a Resource
Protection Plan. Under the plan, 211 moorings and 111 resource protection
buoys were installed to allow access to natural areas while preventing anchor
damage to benthic habitats.
Monitoring:
Since 1989, NPS and
the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) have jointly conducted coral reef monitoring
programs for the Atlantic-Caribbean, focusing on natural and human
disturbance to reefs around the U.S. Virgin Islands. The Coral Reef
Monitoring Manual produced by NPS in 1994 has become an internationally
recognized source of information on methods and techniques. The manual
has been updated by USGS, translated into Spanish, and made available
electronically over the Internet. An innovative approach to monitoring
coral reefs was developed by the joint NPS/USGS Inventory & Monitoring
Program. The method combines a SONAR-based underwater positioning system
with digital videotape recordings to create the most scientifically rigorous
reef-monitoring protocol in the world. This rigorous method has confirmed
the continued decline of live coral documented by previous methods. Dedicated
in 1997, the National Park of American Samoa contains over 2,500 acres of
prime Indo-Pacific coral reefs and nearshore habitats. Scientists and
resource managers at the Park are determining the "Vital Signs" of their
coral reefs by developing new protocols that are appropriate to small-scale
parks.
Monitoring Coral Reefs: Long-term monitoring of
coral reefs around St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands, began in 1989 with the
establishment of five permanent transects at depths of 12 to 14 meters at
Yawzi Point off the island's southern coast. Sampling has documented the
decline of live coral and increase of algae, a trend repeated elsewhere
across the Caribbean.
Resource Management: In 2001, more than 30,000 acres of
seagrass beds, coral reefs, mangrove shorelines, and other vital
marine areas were designated for protection and management under
the National Park Service. Over 12,000 acres were designated under
the new Virgin Island Coral Reef National Monument, and an additional
18,000 acres were added to the existing Buck Island National Monument.
The addition of these areas to the NPS system will provide additional
protection for the marine mammals, sea turtles, and seabirds that frequent
these areas, as well as countless species of fish and invertebrates. Dry
Tortugas National Park has adopted a zoning plan to protect and manage
this outstanding area, which includes exceptional reef, spawning and
nursery habitats, as well as shipwrecks and other cultural resources.
General Management Plans for the other coral reef parks are also being
updated to provide a road map for each park to meet its resource protection
and management goals.
International Marine Protected Area Network: The NPS, in
cooperation with the United Nations Environment Program in Jamaica, is
working to improve communication among marine protected area mangers
across the Caribbean through the Caribbean Marine Protected Area Management
(CaMPAM) network. More than 350 CaMPAM members meet regularly to exchange
information on emerging resource issues, management and research protocols,
and other issues of concern to the resource management community.
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