s Ocean Ocean Treasures s Ocean Treasures s ’ ’

America America • • Program Program Brian D.Brian Keller Brian D.Brian Keller Region Caribbean Caribbean Region Caribbean Keys Florida Florida Regional Science Coordinator Regional Regional Science Coordinator Regional Southeast Atlantic, , and and Mexico, of Gulf Atlantic, Southeast Southeast Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico, and and Mexico, of Gulf Atlantic, Southeast Conservation/Management Conservation/Management Conservation/Management Conservation/Management NOAA Office of National Marine Sanctuaries Marine National of Office NOAA National Marine National Sanctuary: NOAA Office of National Marine Sanctuaries Marine National of Office NOAA National Marine National Sanctuary:

National Marine Sanctuaries Sanctuaries Marine National Sanctuaries Marine National Southeast Florida/Florida Keys •Florida Keys Tract 350 km long – S. of to •Part of Tract, which extends to Martin County •Only system of shallow reefs in North America •Florida Keys: fossilized coral reefs and oolitic mud banks that formed ~125 kya

National Marine Sanctuaries • America’’s Ocean Treasures E Largo Key NMS 1975 NMS S N Biscayne Nat. Biscayne Park 1968/1980 Park W Park 1934 Park

s Ocean Ocean Treasures s Ocean Treasures s ’ ’ Refuge 1957 Refuge Nat. Everglades Nat. Key Deer Key Nat. Florida Florida Bay Florida 60 120 Miles Looe Key Key Looe NMS 1981 NMS

America America

Atlantic Ocean Atlantic • • Great White White Great Heron NWR 1938 NWR Heron 0 West Key NWR 1908 NWR Area 2007 Area Research Nat. Research Gulf of of Mexico Gulf John Pennekamp Reef Coral Pennekamp John 1960 Park State Marine Ecosystem Marine Florida South

Florida Keys NMS 1990 NMS Keys Florida Sanctuaries Marine National Sanctuaries Marine National Tortugas Ecol. Res. 2001 Ecol. Res. Tortugas Nat. Park Park Nat. 1935/1992 Dry Tortugas Tortugas Dry 60 Evolution of of Evolution Protection… Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary

• Designated by Congress in 1990 to protect the coral reef ecosystem surrounding the Florida Keys • Multiple-use • Management plan 1997: 23 highly protected (no-take) marine zones • Tortugas Ecological Reserve implemented in 2001 • Total proportion no-take = 6% Florida Bay Gulf of Mexico

Atlantic 9,844 km 2 Ocean National Marine Sanctuaries • America ’s Ocean Treasures Caribbean-wide Loss of Live Coral Cover

White Band Disease

Bleaching

Bleaching

Diadema Die-off

FKNMS tail end …

From Gardner et al. 2003 and Courtesy S. Miller Aronson & Precht 2006 CREMP:CREMP: OverallOverall CoralCoral CoverCover OverOver TimeTime

http://www.floridamarine.org

Mass Bleaching Bleaching Four Hurricanes

National Marine Sanctuaries • America’’s Ocean Treasures CREMP:CREMP: CoralCoral CoverCover OverOver TimeTime byby HabitatHabitat

25% .

20%

15%

10%

5%

0%

Mean % Stony Coral Cover 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05

Hardbottom Deep Shallow Patch

National Marine Sanctuaries • America’’s Ocean Treasures Mid-channel Patch Reefs South of Marathon

Marker 49

Sunshine Key

Cheeca Rocks SPA s Ocean Ocean Treasures s Ocean Treasures s ’ ’

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National Marine Sanctuaries Sanctuaries Marine National Sanctuaries Marine National

25,000 septic tanks

9,000 cess pits

900 shallow wells for treated wastewater

Excellent wastewater ~75,000 treatment in Key West residents in the Florida Keys (~130,000 during winter season)

124 miles of dredged Canals >3 million visitors annually

(>12 million visitor days) From this…

“An average day of grouper fishing in the Keys in the 1950’s!”

Courtesy J. Ault (UM/RSMAS) … to this

Catch of the day, 2007 Courtesy L. McClenachan (UCSD/SIO) Drivers/Pressures/Stressors

• Serial overfishing & other fishing impacts • Degraded water quality – GOM via Loop/, W Florida Shelf, Keys waste- & stormwater • Heavy human uses – nearly 30K recreational vessels, > 3M tourists/year • Climate change

National Marine Sanctuaries • America’’s Ocean Treasures FKNMS Management Plan

1997 http://floridakeys.noaa.gov/ 2007 National Marine Sanctuaries • America’’s Ocean Treasures Purpose: balance of resource protection and human uses (compatible with conservation)

National Marine Sanctuaries • America’’s Ocean Treasures 1. Science Management & Administration 2. Research and Monitoring 3. Education and Outreach 4. Volunteer 5. Regulatory 6. Enforcement 7. Damage Assessment & Restoration 8. Maritime Heritage Resources 9. Marine Zoning 10. Mooring Buoys 11. Waterway Management 12. Water Quality 13. Operations 14. Evaluation National Marine Sanctuaries • America’’s Ocean Treasures FKNMS Science Program  Coastal Ocean Observations: field (fixed platforms & cruises) and remote sensing  Water Quality Protection Program: water quality, seagrass, and coral reef monitoring  Marine Zone Monitoring Program: reef fishes, spiny lobster, coral recruitment, and benthic community composition  Florida Reef Resilience Program: includes surveys of interpreted at a sub-regional scale Also, numerous short-term research projects, most of which are relevant to management

National Marine Sanctuaries • America’’s Ocean Treasures FKNMS Information Needs

• Sea Level Rise – Focus on Keys inundation and expansion of Florida Bay/SW shelf into the Everglades + associated impacts (including land -based sources of pollution as Chris Bergh noted yesterday) – Reefs have not accreted all that much over the past 6,000 - 7,000 years, so may not be all that much need to investigate reef drowning/keeping up with SLR – Investigate effects on Florida Bay mud banks/circulation and GoM/Atlantic tidal exchanges between Middle and Lower Keys (consider Flagler causeways) – Further modeling and development of scenarios … (e.g., Ross et al. 2009; TNC Big Pine Key inundation; Everglades/Shark River Slough inundation)

National Marine Sanctuaries • America’’s Ocean Treasures s Ocean Ocean Treasures s Ocean Treasures s ’ ’

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National Marine Sanctuaries Sanctuaries Marine National Sanctuaries Marine National