PHYSICAL HABITAT MAPPING AND ASSESSMENT IN BLUEFIELDS BAY FISH SANCTUARY, WESTMORELAND, JAMAICA A Masters Thesis Presented to The Graduate College of Missouri State University In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Science, Geospatial Sciences in Geography and Geology By Jennifer Denise Carroll May 2013 PHYSICAL HABITAT MAPPING AND ASSESSMENT IN BLUEFIELDS BAY FISH SANCTUARY, WESTMORELAND, JAMAICA Geography, Geology, and Planning Missouri State University, May 2013 Master of Science Jennifer Denise Carroll ABSTRACT Rising population in the coastal Caribbean have caused the decline of marine resources as demands exceed sustainable levels. The decline of fish populations and fish habitats like seagrass beds, coral reefs, and mangroves is costly because the regional economy depends heavily on tourism and fishing. Major causes of damage are overfishing, climate change, pollution, and sedimentation. In order to address this problem in Jamaica, the Agriculture Ministry created a network of marine protected areas in 2009 including the Bluefields Bay Fish Sanctuary (BBFS) in Westmoreland. The legislation specified the need for a baseline survey of each new fish sanctuary. This study reports on the baseline physical habitat survey of BBFS which is located between Belmont and Savanna-La-Mar and is about 8 km long, 2 km wide, and 10 m at maximum depth. Satellite imagery and field observations were used to map benthic habitat. GPS photologging was completed to map and assess intertidal habitat. Depth, water quality, and benthic habitat type were recorded via GPS along offshore transects. Bathymetry contours were generated from a kriging interpolated surface with a 95% confidence level and error of ± 2.3 ft. Diver validation of benthic habitat yielded 90% accuracy. The most common type of habitats were mangroves (41.7%) for intertidal and seagrass beds (82%) for benthic. Patch reefs with total area 0.77 km2 made up 6% of the benthic habitat; but some small coral reefs may have not been detected given the scale of the assessment. KEYWORDS: Jamaica, marine protected area, habitat, bathymetric, kriging This abstract is approved as to form and content _______________________________________ Robert T. Pavlowsky Chairperson, Advisory Committee Missouri State University ii PHYSICAL HABITAT MAPPING AND ASSESSMENT IN BLUEFIELDS BAY FISH SANCTUARY, WESTMORELAND, JAMAICA By Jennifer Carroll A Masters Thesis Submitted to the Graduate College Of Missouri State University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of Masters of Science, Geospatial Sciences in Geography and Geology May 2013 Approved: ________________________________________________ Robert Pavlowsky, PhD ________________________________________________ Daniel Beckman, PhD ________________________________________________ Xiaomin Qiu, PhD ________________________________________________ Thomas Tomasi, PhD, Associate Dean Graduate College iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank the following people for their support during the course of my graduate studies. I would first like to thank my advisor Dr. Robert Pavlowsky for his guidance and support, from being on my research crew to signing off on the final paper; he was there every step of the way. I would next like to thank my committee members Dr. Daniel Beckman and Dr. Xiaomin Qiu for lending me their invaluable time, expertise, and knowledge during my graduate studies and completion of my thesis. A special thanks goes out to Dr. Jun Luo for his help with ArcGIS and Dr. William Wedenoja for sharing his years of experience at Bluefields with me. Thank you, Jack Dill, for being a mentor in GIS surveying to me and letting me borrow with your equipment. I would like to thank Josh and Katie Rudolph, Nicki Daugherty, and Aaron Pavlowsky for their time and efforts; without them my thesis research would have been impossible. I am deeply grateful to Wolde Kristos for being our coordinator and go-to contact at Bluefields and for all his efforts on our behalf. A big and warm thank you to Deceita and Michael Turner; Veda Tate and her family; and everyone at Bluefields for making us feel welcome with their hospitality and kindness. Thank you, Emsley Graham, for being the captain of our research vessel. Thanks goes to everyone in OEWRI for the equipment and technical support. Thank you to William Dryer and Jackie Ebert for the invaluable resource of their theses. A sincere thank you goes to Dr. Chuchiak and the LACHS committee and the Graduate College for their financial support. Thank you to John, Mike, Penny, Kathryn, Melissa, Tylene, and all my family and friends for being everything I needed to get me through. You are my unsung heroes. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter 1. Introduction ....................................................................................................... 1 Coastal Marine Resources Problems in the Caribbean ........................................... 2 Coastal Marine Resources at Risk in Caribbean ......................................... 2 Caribbean Efforts Toward a Sustainable Future ......................................... 3 Coastal Marine Degradation in Jamaica ................................................................. 4 Decline of Fisheries in Jamaica. ................................................................. 4 Decline of Coral Reefs in Jamaica .............................................................. 6 Coastal Marine Conditions in Jamaica ....................................................... 7 Bluefields Bay Marine Protected Area ................................................................... 8 History of Bluefields Bay MPA. ................................................................. 9 Setting and Community at Bluefields Bay.................................................. 9 Need for Benthic and Bathymetric Maps for Bluefields Bay. .................. 11 Purpose and Objectives ......................................................................................... 11 Research Questions ............................................................................................... 14 Benefits ................................................................................................................. 15 Chapter 2. Threats to and Protection of Essential Fish Habitats....................................... 17 Habitat Factors and Threats .................................................................................. 19 Pollution. ................................................................................................... 19 Eutrophication and Excessive Nutrient Loading ...................................... 20 Coastal Development and Raw Sewage Problems. .................................. 21 Agriculture ................................................................................................ 22 Deforestation ............................................................................................. 23 Marine Pollution. ...................................................................................... 23 Climate Change ......................................................................................... 24 Jamaica’s National Park System ........................................................................... 26 Sanctuary Assessment Program and Procedures .................................................. 32 Procedures. ................................................................................................ 34 Assessment Needs of MPAs. .................................................................... 35 Essential Fish Habitats and Health Indicators .......................................... 36 Habitat Assessments in Jamaica ........................................................................... 38 Montego Bay Marine Park ........................................................................ 38 Ocho Rios Marine Park. ............................................................................ 39 Discovery Bay ........................................................................................... 41 Port Bight. ................................................................................................. 41 Rio Bueno ................................................................................................. 42 Specific Needs of Bluefields Bay ......................................................................... 43 Summary ............................................................................................................... 45 Chapter 3. Study Area ....................................................................................................... 46 Geography ............................................................................................................. 46 Geology ................................................................................................................. 48 v Stratigraphy ............................................................................................... 49 Soils........................................................................................................... 50 Karst Topography ..................................................................................... 51 Structural. .................................................................................................. 52 Seismology ................................................................................................ 52 Sea Level Rise......................................................................................................