MolinièreMolinière----BeauséjourBeauséjour Marine Protected Area Grenada Management Plan Grenada Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry & FisheriesFisheries September 2010 Acknowledgments All persons who have contributed to the development of this plan, namely the MPA Stakeholders Committee, the personnel of the Fisheries division, and all the people who kindly shared relevant pieces of information that were put together to build this document are hereby acknowledged. Special thanks are due to local communities and fishermen who willingly gave their time to participate in the surveys. This management plan was developed with technical assistance provided by the United States Agency for International Development through the Caribbean Open Trade Support project (COTS). The consultant Dr Dominique Roby, main author of this document, was assisted in the field by Tyrone Buckmire. Jerry Mitchell produced the maps on Figures 1, 4 and 8. The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation provided a financial support to the MPA Realization in Grenada Project which outputs were integrated in the development of the management plan. ii Molinière-Beauséjour Marine Protected Area Management Plan Table of ccontentsontents AcknowledgmentsAcknowledgments................................................................................................................................................................................................................... ................................................................................................ ................................................................................................ ................................................................................. ............iiiiii Table of contentscontents................................................................................................................................................................................................................... ................................................................................................ ................................................................................................ ................................................................................... ..................iiiiiiiii AcronymsAcronyms................................................................................................................................................................................................................... ................................................................................................ ................................................................................................ ................................................................................................ ..................... viiviivii UnitsUnits................................................................................................................................................................................................................... ................................................................................................ ................................................................................................ ................................................................................................ ....................................... viiiviiiviii PPPARTPART A DESCRIPTION AND BACKGROUND OF THE MOLINIÈREMOLINIÈRE----BEAUSÉJOURBEAUSÉJOUR MPAMPA........................................................ 111 1.1.1. Summary ................................................................................... ................................................................................................ ................................................................................................ ................................................................................................ .......................................................................................... ............. 222 2.2.2. IntroductionIntroduction................................................................................................................................................................................................................... ................................................................................................ ................................................................................................ ...................................................................................... ......... 222 3.3.3. History of the protected area, gazettement and boundariesdaries......................................................................................................................................................................................................... ......... 444 3.1. Purpose and history of the creation of the Molinière-Beauséjour marine protected area....... 4 3.2. Designation of the MPA................................................................................................................................................ 6 3.3. Boundaries, zoning and boundary plans............................................................................................................ 6 4.4.4. Physical characteristicscharacteristics................................................................................................................... ................................................................................................ ................................................................................................ .............................................................................................. ................. 999 4.1. Climate and climate change ..................................................................................................................................... 9 4.2. Oceanography ................................................................................................................................................................10 4.2.1. Salinity ........................................................................................................................................................................10 4.2.2. Depths ........................................................................................................................................................................11 4.2.3. Tide and currents .................................................................................................................................................11 4.2.4. Sea level rise...........................................................................................................................................................11 4.2.5. Water quality ...........................................................................................................................................................11 4.3. Location and access....................................................................................................................................................17 4.4. Coastline.............................................................................................................................................................................18 4.5. Watersheds.......................................................................................................................................................................18 5.5.5. Significant resourcesresources................................................................................................................... ................................................................................................ ................................................................................................ ................................................................................................ ........................................20. 202020 5.A Natural resource values ................................................................................... ................................ ................................................................................................ ................................................................................................ ............................................................................................ ..............................20202020 5.1. Coral reefs..........................................................................................................................................................................20 5.1.1. Reef ecosystem.....................................................................................................................................................20 5.1.2. Reef species: fish, coral, sponges................................................................................................................26 5.1.3. Reef species status..............................................................................................................................................34 5.2. Seagrass beds ................................................................................................................................................................35 5.3. Mangrove...........................................................................................................................................................................35