Monitoring

Coral Reef Monitoring

What Is Coral Reef Monitoring?

Monitoring is the gathering of data and information on coral reef ecosystems or on those people who use coral reef resources. Monitoring should be repeated on a regular basis, preferably over an extended period of time. Coral reefs have natural changes that occur over time; however, they are also affected by activities on land that add nutrients and sediments to the ocean, increase air pollution, and contribute to climate changes. Therefore, to observe these changes scientists and organizations record variations in coral cover, fish populations, species diversity,coral bleaching, and disease-related events.

How Reefs Are Commonly Monitored

• Manta tow and timed swims
• Transects
• Quadrats
• Photography and video
• Roving dives

https://portals.iucn.org/library/efiles/documents/2004-023.pdf

Benefits of Monitoring

Resource assessment and mapping, resource status and long-term trends, status and long-term trends of user groups, impacts of large-scale disturbances, impacts of human activities, performance evaluation & adaptive management, education and awareness raising, and contributing to regional and global networks. (add descriptions/explanations)

Reef Monitoring Projects

The United States Virgin Islands Territorial Coral Reef Monitoring Program

The United States Virgin Islands Territorial Coral Reef Monitoring Program is one of the most important programs designed to monitor and track the status of the reefs in the US Virgin Islands. It is funded by NOAA's Coral Reef Conservation Program and administered by The Division of Coastal Zone Management under the USVI Department of Planning and Natural Resources Administration. They conduct an annual survey of the reefs within the US Virgin Islands.

Objectives: The objective of this program are to monitor and track the status of reefs and the inhabitants in areas around the US Virgin Islands; St. Thomas, St. John, and St. Croix. It also focuses on threats to reef systems such as pollution, overfishing, and thermal stress. They work closely to link changes in reef health with specific stressors and figure out the plan of action that would best preserve the reef and the fish communities. They also find ways to study threatened species as well as other components of the reef system that we know little information about.

Methodology/ Experimental Design:

• Visual fish census
• Belt transects
• Roving dives
• Fish counts

A Few Key Points From The 2011 Annual Report:

The Virgin Island National Park

The Virgin Island National Park is another active participant in the US Virgin Islands monitoring of coral reefs. They play a part by monitoring air quality, marker buoy instillations, and ongoing research on coral disease, sedimentation rates, fishery population biology, and watershed delineation.

Objectives: The National Park aims to protect and sustain the coral reefs of the Virgin Islands. It is also designed to monitor certain aspects of the reef and surrounding ecosystems. In addition, it aims to provide information on coral reef status to policymakers, the public, and the National Park Service in order to improve the conditions of the reefs and other areas targeted by the National Park.

Accomplishments:

• Virgin Islands Coral Reef National Monument (2011)
• 16 Water Monitoring Sites around St. John (sample the sites every three months to monitor clarity, dissolved oxygen, temperature, salt content, light transmittance, and pH levels)
• "No-Take Zones" (2001)
• Mooring Buoy and Marker Buoy Installation
• Air Quality Monitoring
• Ongoing research (coral disease, sedimentation rates, fishery population)

A Few Key Points:

• Coral reef ecosystems face threats due to natural disturbances (hurricanes), boat groundings, and careless anchoring
• Coral diseases
• Virgin Islands Coral Reef National Monument rated in "fair" condition
• Two most important herbivorous fish (parrot and surgeonfish) face strong fishing pressure, but are protected from commercial fishing by the park
• In 2006, two coral types (Staghorn and Elkhorn) were placed on the Endangered Species list as "threatened" due to hurricanes and boat groundings
• Black band disease and white band disease are both at fault for loss of coral cover
• Episodes of bleaching in 1987, 1990, 1998, 2005
• Runoff from land development on St. John is one of the biggest threats to the reefs
• Sea turtle mortality has increased on St. John in the past few years due to boating
• Due to a lack of funds, the park can only do but so much

Methodology/ Experimental Design:

Sources

Brainard, Russell. Coral Reef Ecosystem Monitoring Report for American Samoa, 2002-2006. Silver Spring, Md.: U.S. Dept. of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Marine Fisheries Service, 2008. Print.

Smith, T. B., et al. "Assessing Coral Reef Health Across Onshore to Offshore Stress Gradients in the US Virgin Islands." Marine pollution bulletin 56.12 (2008): 1983-91. ProQuest. Web. 25 Feb. 2015.

http://sero.nmfs.noaa.gov/sustainable_fisheries/caribbean/fish_indep_wkshp/surveys/usvi_crmp/index.html

http://sero.nmfs.noaa.gov/sustainable_fisheries/caribbean/fish_indep_wkshp/documents/pdfs/presentations/usvi_coral_reef_monitoring_program.pdf

http://www.npca.org/about-us/center-for-park-research/stateoftheparks/virginislands/viis_lo.pdf