Looe Key Mooring Buoy Service

Interrupted July 15-18

Help Us Preserve the Reef The survey requires the same preferred The United States Geological Survey conditions for divers: good visibility and calm (USGS) will be conducting a mission to seas (typical of summer weather) in order to capture high-resolution baseline imagery of establish a high-resolution set of baseline Looe Key reef prior to multi-million dollar images that will allow evaluation of growth of coral restoration efforts taking place under restored corals over time. the Mission: Iconic Reefs initiative. This mission requires the removal of 20 mooring The FKNMS mooring system buoys so the towed, five-camera system (SQUID-5) can safely navigate slow passes Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary USGS prepares the SQUID-5 for capturing across the entire site, similar to mowing established a mooring buoy program 40 imagery at Eastern Dry Rocks. grass on a football field. The moorings will years ago. Looe Key Sanctuary Preservation be removed on, July 14th and returned to Area features 39 of the nearly 500 first-come, service on July 19th. first-served mooring buoys throughout FKNMS. 14 mooring buoys will remain This activity is a critical part of the $100 available during the survey work. Vessels are million Mission: Iconic Reefs restoration allowed to anchor elsewhere within the program, a partnership between federal, Sanctuary Preservation Area when mooring state and conservation and nonprofit buoys are unavailable--but only on sand. organizations and our local community in one of the largest commitments to coral We are requesting that the public refrain restoration anywhere in the world. This from anchoring within the survey area work will allow NOAA to accurately quantify where mooring buoys 2-through-21 have progress of the effort to revitalize the reef been temporarily removed. for future generations. By avoiding this site for a handful of days, the public is FKNMS staff have identified 10 alternate locations near Looe Key that provide The technology provides millimeter-scale providing critical support for coral images combined with GPS precision. restoration efforts by helping to expedite interesting snorkel and dive opportunities, the USGS mapping work. including Newfound Harbor Sanctuary Preservation Area, another of the Mission: Iconic Reef restoration sites.

Maps and Descriptions of Alternative Snorkel and Dive sites

If your water plans coincide with the limited access period, there are other places within the sanctuary that provide outstanding snorkel and dive opportunities. FKNMS has generated a list of alternate nearshore and offshore snorkel and dive sites for people to enjoy, as noted on the reverse

side of this document. For additional information visit: floridakeys.noaa.gov The SQUID-5 requires slow passes over each survey site, similar to mowing a football field.

http://floridakeys.noaa.gov/

Ref Offshore Depth (ft) Lat Long Description Buoys 1’-15’ multiple multiple 10 (including 1 Large Vessel) buoys will be available at the western end in the spur and groove habitat and one buoy at 1, 22-30, the eastern end. The spurs generally get smaller and are submerged to a greater depth as you move either east or west Looe Key SPA LV of the reef face. Buoys 40’–60’ multiple multiple These buoys are representative of older drowned spur and groove habitat and are not as high in relief as the main reef 31-35 face. A W of Looe, fore 18’-25’ 24° 32.488 W 81 ° 26.051 Series of drowned spurs with a small ridge and undercut ledge. High numbers of barrel sponges, gorgonians, seafans, reef Palythoa. No large corals; 100’ from staghorn outplant site. Large schools of grunts and snappers B E of Looe 22’-30’ 24° 33.044 W 81 ° 23.382 Low relief patches of hardbottom separated by sand patches. Lots of gorgonians and seafans, clusters of staghorn coral, high numbers of barrel sponges. C E of Looe, Big 14’-25’ 24° 33.161 W 81 ° 22.902 Large sand patch for anchoring is at northern end where sand shifts to low relief hardbottom. Southern end has large Pine Ledges** chunks of fractured reef framework that form an undercut ledge 1-4 ft tall. High densities of staghorn on the top of the (northern end) ledge. Nice fish life, lobsters etc. at edge of sand and under the overhang. **Please do not anchor at the southern end of the patch near 24° 33.161, W 81° 22.903 as this area has high densities of staghorn coral that are on reef rock immediately adjacent to the sand patch. There are similar habitats throughout Big Pine Ledges but extreme care is necessary when anchoring as this area has extensive staghorn coral outplants. D Looe Key SPA 12’-30’ 24° 32.819 W 81 ° 23.989 East of buoy L1 330 ft. Continuation of Looe Key spur and groove habitat. Spurs are lower relief than in center (2-6 ft off eastern end surrounding sand), no large boulder corals, but isolated staghorn coral, gorgonians, sponges, seafans, small boulder corals, good fish life including reef sharks and nurse sharks, schools of snapper and grunts, grouper and reef associated ornamentals. Good visibility, lots of clean sand patches between spurs. Ref Nearshore Depth (ft) Lat Long Description (Buoys 1’-8’ 24° 36.898 W 81 ° 23.620 Moorings are adjacent to a large (30-40 ft diameter) lobate star coral (Orbicella annularis) that is 1-4 feet deep with Newfound 1-4) surrounding boulder corals. The coral patch is surrounded by hardbottom and seagrass. Harbor SPA (Buoys 1’-8’ 24° 36.959 W 81 ° 23.470 Moorings located adjacent to a large (30-40 ft diameter) lobate star coral (Orbicella annularis) that is 1-4 feet deep with 5-6) surrounding boulder corals. The coral patch is surrounded by hardbottom and seagrass. Newfound Harbor to 1’-20' multiple (see below E-I) A long ridge extends from Newfound Harbor SPA to Big Pine, off Cook Island and Munson Island. This are is largely a Big Pine, nearshore hardbottom habitat with patches of sand and interspersed with seagrass beds. It is flat, low relief with large coral heads reef system scattered throughout the area and in many locations these form clusters. E Newfound Harbor 12’-25’ 24° 36.864 W 81 ° 22.836 A linear reef system between the shallow hardground and a deeper sand/seagrass bed. Very high relief structure with deep ridge massive boulder corals, scattered large ESA-listed star corals, brain corals and other species with good fish community. F Offshore within 3’-18’ 24° 37.504 W 81 ° 21.532 Scattered boulder corals, soft corals and sponges with large brain corals, blushing star coral, large-cup star coral and the cut between ESA-listed star corals in a hardground habitat. Colonies in small clusters with high abundances of snapper and grunts G OffshoreBig Pine withinand 3’-10’ 24° 37.218 W 81 ° 22.264 High diversity of boulder corals in clusters. Many of the large brains (3-6 ft height/diameter) and star corals are still live the cut between (some 1-3 ft, some up to 9-12 ft). Good fish community with grunts, snapper, angelfish, hogfish, parrotfish etc. H SiderastreaCook Island patchand 4’-8’ 24° 37.182 W 81 ° 22.524 Large patch of huge starlet corals (Siderastrea) that are mostly live with a high diversity of other corals. These round reef boulders are 2-9 ft diameter and are in clusters with a lot of fish, lobsters and urchins found among corals. I Offshore of the 2’-10’ 24° 37.109 W 81 ° 22.837 Huge (>100 ft diameter) lobate star coral (similar to the two located within Newfound Harbor, but in better condition) cut between intermixed with mountainous star coral, starlet corals, brain corals. Huge schools of snapper and grunts with 1000s of fish Hopkins Island schooling among these corals. Surrounded by hardbottom, sand and seagrass.

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