HR: 14:00h
AN: OS52J-01    [PDF]
TI: {\it Oculina} Reef Marine Protected Area: Past, Present and Future
AU: * Brooke, S D
EM: sbrooke@darkwing.uoregon.edu
AF: Oregon Institute of Marine Biology, PO Box 5389, Charleston, OR 97420 United States
AU: Koenig, C C
EM: koenig@bio.fsu.edu
AF: Department of Biological Sciences, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306 United States
AU: Shepard, A N
EM: sheparda@uncwil.edu
AF: National Undersea Research Program, University of North Carolina at Wilmington 5600 Marvin Moss Lane, Wilmington, NC 28409 United States
AU: Reed, J K
EM: jreed@hboi.edu
AF: Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution, 5600 US1 North, Fort Pierce, FL 34946 United States
AB: The {\it Oculina varicosa} coral reef habitat is unique to the shelf edge off Florida's east coast. The branching coral heads coalesce into thickets supporting high vertebrate and invertebrate biodiversity, and high densities of economically important reef fish. In 1984, 92 NM2 of the {\it Oculina} banks were designated the {\it Oculina} Habitat of Particular Concern (OHAPC) by the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council (SAFMC), protecting it from trawling and other disruptive bottom activities. In 1994, the SAFMC closed the OHAPC to bottom fishing for 10 years to investigate the recovery of overfished reef fish populations and spawning aggregations in the protected area, and in 2001, the SAFMC expanded the OHAPC to 300 NM2, to encompass the known extent of the {\it Oculina} habitat. In 1995, submersible surveys found that more than 90\% of the originally described {\it Oculina} habitat within the reserve had been reduced to unconsolidated rubble. Based on recent (2001 and 2003) habitat mapping and characterization studies, only $\sim$ 8 hectares of intact thicket habitat remain, however, fish surveys from 2001 show increased grouper density and male abundance inside the reserve, suggesting population recovery since 1994. In 2000 a restoration project was initiated on the {\it Oculina} reefs, using structures that simulated coral colonies, some with live {\it Oculina} transplants. These structures attract reef fish and may provide spawning habitat for visiting groupers as well as settlement substrate for coral larvae. Natural recruitment rates of {\it O. varicosa} are unknown, but {\it O. varicosa} planulae are long lived, and can tolerate the environmental extremes that occur on the shelf edge during coral spawning season. Young colonies have also been observed on restoration blocks within the OHAPC protected area, and colonies occur on shipwrecks along the shelf edge. Lack of reef re-colonization is probably a function of repeated impact from trawling and lack of suitable substrate rather than low larval supply. With the introduction of mandatory vessel identification systems for shrimp trawlers in this region, the pressure of illegal trawling will hopefully be reduced, and the {\it Oculina} Banks will begin to recover.
DE: 4804 Benthic processes/benthos
DE: 4815 Ecosystems, structure and dynamics
SC: Ocean Sciences [OS]
MN: 2004 Ocean Sciences Meeting