December 2009 Volume 2 Issue 3

In September 2009, with funding from NOAA and the State of Florida, the Florida De-

partment of Environmental Protection’s Coral Reef Conservation Program (FDEP

CRCP) partnered with Miami-Dade County’s Department of Environmental Resources

Management to acquire and install the first mooring buoys on the coral reefs off north-

ern Miami-Dade County. Twenty buoys were installed at six reef sites throughout the

region to enable boaters, divers and anglers to tie

their vessels to a buoy instead of anchoring, which

can damage fragile coral reefs. Adding to the buoys

off Broward (121), Palm Beach (6) and Martin (6)

counties, the new buoys increase the total number

of reef-saving mooring buoys to 153 for the north-

ern third of the Florida Reef Tract.

The FDEP CRCP works closely with over 70 agen-

cies, non-governmental organizations, universities

and local industries to implement Florida’s local

action strategies. Installing mooring buoys with the

largest local government agency in Florida was just

one of the state’s many strategies supporting Florida’s new Coral Reef Protection Act,

which went into effect on July 1, 2009. The act in-

creases protection of Florida’s threatened coral

reefs by helping raise awareness of the damages

associated with vessel groundings and anchoring on

the Florida Reef Tract, which spans over 300 nauti-

cal miles along southeast Florida’s Atlantic coast,

the Florida Keys and the Dry Tortugas. The law

also authorizes civil penalties for the destruction of

reef resources and provides for efficient restoration

and mitigation of coral reef injuries. For more information, please view FDEP CRCP’s

press releases on the mooring buoy project and the

Coral Reef Protection Act at http://

www.southeastfloridareefs.net/news.aspx.

Local, State and Federal Partners Work Together to Enhance Protection

of Florida’s Reefs

Inside this issue:

22nd USCRTF

Meeting

Highlights

2

Pelekane Bay

Watershed

Restoration

Project

2-3

USGS State

Partnership

Program

Projects

4

Name That

Species Contest!

4

New mooring buoys and the Coral Reef

Protection Act will help protect more

than 40 species of stony corals found

on the reefs of southeast Florida,

including the federally listed, threatened

staghorn coral (Acropora cervicornis).

Photo: Karen Lane

New mooring buoys and the Coral Reef

Protection Act will help protect more

than 40 species of stony corals found

on the reefs of southeast Florida,

including the federally listed, threatened

staghorn coral (Acropora cervicornis).

Photo: Karen Lane

A dive vessel tied to a reef-saving

mooring buoy off Miami, Florida.

Photo: FDEP CRCP

Page 2 USCRTF Newsletter

Spotlight on the Pelekane Bay Watershed

Restoration Project

On June 30th, 2009, the Pelekane Bay Watershed

Restoration Project was awarded $2,695,737

dollars in American Recovery and Reinvestment

Act funds. The project will restore more than 1,463

acres of coastal and marine habitat by reducing

sediment and runoff impacts to coral reefs through

erosion control and replanting native upland

vegetation.

The Pelekane Bay Watershed is located near the

Northwest corner of the big island of Hawaii.

More than a century ago, most of the watershed

was covered with rainforest and tropical dry

forest. Today, ninety two percent of the land within

the watershed is used as cattle pasture.

Watershed erosion and sediment deposition in

Pelekane Bay has led Hawaii’s Unified Watershed

Assessment to identify Pelekane Bay watershed as a

Category 1 watershed, a classification given to wa-

tersheds with the most urgent need of restoration.

The overall goal of the project is clear: restore

Pelekane Bay by restoring the watershed.

Secretary of DNER Daniel J. Galan Kercadó and Deputy Assistant

Secretary of Fish, Wildlife and Parks Eileen Sobeck pose with

USCRTF award recipients.

The U.S. Coral Reef Task Force met in San Juan,

Puerto Rico, from October 30-November 5, 2009.

Highlights of the week included:

* The USCRTF passed two decision items. The Imple-

mentation of the Framework for Action focuses

USCRTF coral conservation efforts on four priority

actions, and Resolution 22.1 established a working

group to review and recommend best management

practices for roadway design.

* USDA will provide one million dollars in Fiscal Year

2010 to projects in the Guanica Bay Watershed in

southwest Puerto Rico, and USDA will lead the United

States Coral Reef Task Force Partnership Initiative

(CRTFPI). In addition, USDA will match up to

$250,000 to partners to enhance NGO capacity in

Guanica Bay. NOAA plans to dedicate $550,000 total

to the new partnership initiative in 2010.

* The U.S. Coast Guard will review requests and at-

tempt to provide support for State and Federal agency

partners to accompany USCG aircrews on routine,

regularly scheduled over-flights to assess potential im-

pacts of land-based sources of pollution on the marine

environment.

For more highlights and information on the meeting,

please visit http://coralreef.gov/meeting22/

22nd USCRTF Meeting Highlights

Makeahua Stream carries large amounts of sediment into

Pelekane Bay during a storm.

The Pelekane Bay Project will re-

store more than 1,463 acres of

coastal and marine habitat

Page 3 Volume 2 Issue 3

Spotlight on the Pelekane Bay Watershed Restoration Project Continued...

A coastal benthic cover map showing the area of Pelekane Bay (above).

Student volunteers create

a sediment dam in the

lower Pelekane Bay

(right).

The four main objectives of the project are as

follows: maintain existing ground cover in the

watershed to prevent actively eroding areas

from expanding, restore native vegetation to

eroding and important areas of the watershed,

reduce sediment transport and storage in

drainages and mitigate head-cutting gullies, and

monitor impact of watershed restoration on

the coral reef environment of the bay. The

project will be conducted by the Kohala Wa-

tershed Partnership, a voluntary coalition of

private landowners and State land managers

who joined together in 2003 to manage the

forested watershed of Kohala Mountain and

protect it from threats.

Expected outcomes of the project include the

400 acres of restored riparian habitat, six

miles of protected and restored stream habi-

tat, the installation of 100,000 native plants,

and creation of 20 miles of ungulated-proof

fencing. Fifteen new field jobs will be created

to conduct the project.

The Pelekane Bay Watershed Restoration Pro-

ject is one of five coral-related projects to be

awarded funds that total nearly 15 million dol-

lars. For more information on Pelekane Bay

Restoration, please visit

http://kohalacenter.org/pelekaneblog/

For more information about ARRA watershed

restoration funds, please click here.

Pictures and content are courtesy of the

Kohala Watershed Partnership.

Pelekane Watershed from Kohala mountain

(5400 feet) to Pelekane Bay (left).

Name that Species

Contest! Can you provide the common and sci-

entific name for the species pictured ?

If so, please email your answer to

sarah_bobbe@ios.doi.gov

If you answer correctly, you will be en-

tered into a drawing for a prize.

Visit us on the web!www.coralreef.gov

Editor : Sarah Bobbe

Please email

sarah_bobbe@ios.doi.gov

your questions and

suggestions for future

editions

USGS State Partnership Program’s Coral Research Project Results

Member Points of Contact

NOAA-Steven Thur

DOI-Randal Bowman

USAID—Barbara Best

USDA—Howard Hankin

DOD-Navy—Tom Egeland

DOD-ACE—Joe Wilson

USCG—Steve Tucker

DOJ—Karen Wardzinski

DOS—Christine Dawson

DOT— n/a

EPA—Susan Laessig

NASA—Paula Bontempi

NSF—Phil Taylor

CNMI—Fran Castro

PR—Aida Rosario

FL—Chantal Collier

HI—Bob Nishimoto

AS—Lelei Peau

Guam—Vangie Lujan

USVI—Paige Rothenberger

On December 10, USGS leaders and invited guests heard presentations from the prin-

cipal investigators of the 2007-2009 USGS Eastern Region State Partnership Program

(SPP) initiative funded research projects. The four projects were conducted in Florida’s

Dry Tortugas National Park and parks in the U.S. Virgin Islands and included:

· “Trophic coupling and habitat connectivity in coral reef, mangrove, and seagrass

benthic invertebrate communities of the Virgin Islands National Park and Coral Reef

National Monument”

· “Physical and Biological

Connectivity of Virgin Islands

Coral Reefs: the Potential for

Recovery of Reefs within Virgin

Islands National Park, Virgin Is-

lands Coral Reef National Monu-

ment, and Buck Island Reef Na-

tional Monument”

· “Efficacy of a newly-

established Research Natural

Area (RNA) for protecting coral

reef fishes within Dry Tortugas

National Park”

· “Coral-Algal-Herbivore

Interactions in Protected versus

Unprotected Reef Ecosystems”

Nearly $1.2 million of Federal (USGS, NPS, and NOAA) funds supported these four

projects over three years, and $926,755 was transferred to the partnering State and

academic institutions. Also, the Federal funds were matched with State in-kind contri-

butions that totaled over $900,000. Hence, the total research effort was about

$2,100,000. The newly acquired information from these projects is being applied to

ecosystem-based approaches to managing corals and reef fisheries. For more informa-

tion, please contact Gary Brewer at gbrewer@usgs.gov

Credit: George Cathcart

A neon goby on star coral at Dry Tortugas Credit: George Cathcart