OFFICE OF RESILIENCE AND COASTAL PROTECTION Florida Coastal Water Quality Assessment and Integration Report July 21, 2020 Matlacha Pass Aquatic Preserve ATMOSP ND HE A RI IC C N A A D E M I C N O I S L T A R N A O T I I O T A N N U .S E . C D R E E P M A M RT O MENT OF C This report was prepared by: Office of Resilience and Coastal Protection Florida Department of Environmental Protection 3900 Commonwealth Blvd., M.S. 235 Tallahassee, FL 32399 Contact: Katie Petrinec Florida Aquatic Preserves Data Coordinator 904-461-4054 [email protected] Cheryl P. Clark Coastal Projects Manager 850-245-2109 [email protected] Project funding provided by a grant agreement from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, Florida Coastal Management Program, and by a Grant provided by the Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management under the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972, as amended, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Award No. NA17NOS4190167. The views, statements, findings, conclusions and recommendations expressed herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the State of Florida, NOAA or any of their subagencies. Suggested citation for this report: Petrinec, K, and C Clark. 2019. Florida Coastal Water Quality Assessment and Integration Report. Florida Department of Environmental Protection, Tallahassee, FL 43 pp. Florida Coastal Water Quality Assessment and Integration Report | ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This project was supported by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection would like to thank our partners who provided letters of support for this project: Charlotte Harbor National Estuary Program, Gulf of Mexico Alliance, Ocean Conservancy, Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation and the Tampa Bay Estuary Program. We thank our collaborator, the Centralized Data Management Office in the National Estuarine Research Reserve System — Dr. Dwayne Porter, Melissa Ide and Jeremy Cothran — for contributing to the success of this project. Thank you, Jeremy, for working so hard on this project and creating a data portal that showcases the continuous water quality data collected by the aquatic preserves. And most importantly, we would like to thank the aquatic preserves staff. Without all of you, this project would not have been possible. Managing a continuous water quality program is not easy, and all your hard work and dedication to collecting the best data possible really showed. We are so immensely grateful for all you do. A l e x R e e d Michael Shirley, Ph.D. D i r e c t o r Deputy Director, Coastal Management Program Office of Resilience and Coastal Protection Office of Resilience and Coastal Protection Florida Coastal Water Quality Assessment and Integration Report | iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements iii Table of Contents iv List of Tables v List of Figures vi Executive Summary 8 Introduction 9 Northwest Florida Aquatic Preserves 10 Central Panhandle Aquatic Preserves 11 Big Bend Seagrasses Aquatic Preserves 11 Tampa Bay Aquatic Preserves 12 Charlotte Harbor Aquatic Preserves 13 Estero Bay Aquatic Preserve 14 Northeast Florida Aquatic Preserves 15 Indian River Lagoon Aquatic Preserves 16 Project Overview 17 Assessment 19 Training 19 Interviews 19 Recommendations 20 Data 20 Trend Analysis 22 Results 23 Water Temperature 23 Salinity 27 Dissolved Oxygen 32 pH 35 Turbidity 40 Discussion 44 Conclusions 45 Next Steps 46 References 47 Florida Coastal Water Quality Assessment and Integration Report | iv List of Tables Table 1. Data collection periods for the aquatic preserves’ 28 continuous water quality stations. Plus sign (+) represents stations that experienced data gaps longer than six months. Asterisk denotes currently inactive stations. 21 Table 2. Summary statistics for water temperature (°C) collected by aquatic preserves staff at 28 continuous water quality stations in Florida. 25 Table 3. Long-term trends in water temperature (°C) collected at 28 continuous water quality stations in Florida. Long-term trends were determined using the Seasonal Mann-Kendall Test. Estimated slopes use Hirsch et al.’s modification of the Theil/Sen Estimator and the estimated Confidence Intervals use Gilbert’s modification of the Theil/Sen method. Datasets that contained a minimum of three consecutive years were analyzed for significant (p<0.05) increasing or decreasing trends based on all available data for water temperature. Stations that did not include sufficient data were reported as No Result (NR). Stations that did not pass the Heterogeneity Test (p>0.05) do not have Trend Test results and are reported as NA. Results that could not be calculated are reported as NC. 26 Table 4. Summary statistics for salinity (ppt) collected by aquatic preserves staff at 28 continuous water quality stations in Florida. 30 Table 5. Long-term trends in salinity (ppt) collected at 28 continuous water quality stations in Florida. Long- term trends were determined using the Seasonal Mann-Kendall Test. Estimated slopes use Hirsch et al.’s modification of the Theil/Sen Estimator and the estimated Confidence Intervals use Gilbert’s modification of the Theil/Sen method. Datasets that contained a minimum of three consecutive years were analyzed for significant (p<0.05) increasing or decreasing trends based on all available data for salinity. Stations that did not include sufficient data are reported as No Result (NR). 31 Table 6. Summary statistics for dissolved oxygen (mg/L) collected by aquatic preserves staff at 28 continuous water quality stations in Florida. 33 Table 7. Long-term trends in dissolved oxygen (mg/L) collected at 28 continuous water quality stations in Florida. Long-term trends were determined using the Seasonal Mann-Kendall Test. Estimated slopes use Hirsch et al.’s modification of the Theil/Sen Estimator and the estimated Confidence Intervals use Gilbert’s modification of the Theil/Sen method. Datasets that contained a minimum of three consecutive years were analyzed for significant (p<0.05) increasing or decreasing trends based on all available data for dissolved oxygen. Stations that did not include sufficient data are reported as No Result (NR). 34 Table 8. Summary statistics for pH collected by aquatic preserves staff at 28 continuous water quality stations in Florida. 38 Table 9. Long-term trends in pH collected at 28 continuous water quality stations in Florida. Long-term trends were determined using the Seasonal Mann-Kendall Test. Estimated slopes use Hirsch et al.’s modification of the Theil/Sen Estimator and the estimated Confidence Intervals use Gilbert’s modification of the Theil/Sen method. Datasets that contained a minimum of three consecutive years were analyzed for significant (p<0.05) increasing or decreasing trends based on all available data for pH. Stations that did not include sufficient data are reported as No Result (NR). 39 Table 10. Summary statistics for pH collected by aquatic preserves staff at 28 continuous water quality stations in Florida. 42 Florida Coastal Water Quality Assessment and Integration Report | v Table 11. Long-term trends in turbidity collected at 28 continuous water quality stations in Florida. Long- term trends were determined using the Seasonal Mann-Kendall Test. Estimated slopes use Hirsch et al.’s modification of the Theil/Sen Estimator and the estimated Confidence Intervals use Gilbert’s modification of the Theil/Sen method. Datasets that contained a minimum of three consecutive years were analyzed for significant (p<0.05) increasing or decreasing trends based on all available data for turbidity. Stations that did not include sufficient data are reported as No Result (NR). 43 List of Figures Figure 1. Continuous water quality station managed by Northwest Florida Aquatic Preserves. 10 Figure 2. Continuous water quality stations managed by Central Panhandle Aquatic Preserves. 11 Figure 3. Continuous water quality stations managed by Big Bend Seagrasses Aquatic Preserves. Asterisks (*) denote newly established water quality station. 12 Figure 4. Continuous water quality stations managed by Tampa Bay Aquatic Preserves. 13 Figure 5. Continuous water quality stations managed by Charlotte Harbor Aquatic Preserves. 14 Figure 6. Continuous water quality stations managed by Estero Bay Aquatic Preserve. 14 Figure 7. Continuous water quality stations managed by Northeast Florida Aquatic Preserves. 15 Figure 8. Continuous water quality stations managed by Indian River Lagoon Aquatic Preserves 16 Figure 9. The map features locations where data sondes were used continuously to monitor water quality within NERRS and APs for the study period. Green dots represent AP stations and orange dots represent NERR stations. 18 Figure 10. Average monthly water temperature recorded at BBSSK water quality station in Big Bend Seagrasses APs. BBSSK exhibited decreasing long-term trend in water temperature. Breaks in data indicate missing or omitted data. 23 Figure 11. Average monthly water temperature recorded at EB01 and EB02 water quality stations in Estero Bay AP. Both stations exhibited increasing long-term trends in water temperature. Breaks in data indicate missing or omitted data. 24 Figure 12. Average monthly salinity recorded at BBSBC (Big Bend Seagrasses AP); BBSCR (Big Bend Seagrasses AP); BBSDB (Big Bend Seagrasses AP); BBSHS (Big Bend Seagrasses AP); BBSSK (Big Bend Seagrasses AP); BBSSW (Big Bend Seagrasses AP); MP1A (Charlotte Harbor AP); MP2B (Charlotte Harbor AP); MP3C (Charlotte