2005 Project Summaries
Project Summary for 2005–22: Effectivemeness of the Oculina OHAPC: monitoring
Background: Ivory tree coral, Oculina varicosa, occurs on the continental shelf throughout the southeastern U.S. and Caribbean. The deep water form is ahermatypic, delicately branching, and forms large mounds on the shelf edge off the east coast of Florida, known as the Oculina Banks. The mounds lie in 60 — 110 m of water, are thousands of years old, and rise as high as 30 m above the surrounding bottom. They are slow–growing, averaging about 1-2 cm per year. In 1984, the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council (SAFMC) established 92 nm² OHAPC in order to protect the fragile coral from damage caused by bottom–tending fishing gear including bottom trawls, bottom longlines, dredges, and fish traps. Subsequent protection was afforded to the OHAPC by prohibiting anchoring, trawling for rock shrimp, and by requiring the use of vessel monitoring systems (VMS) on rock shrimp vessels. In 1994, the area encompassed by the 92 nm² OHAPC was declared the Oculina Experimental Closed Area, and possession of or fishing for snapper/grouper species was prohibited for 10 years to allow for scientific studies. Designation of an area where deepwater species such as grouper and tilefish can grow and reproduce without being subjected to fishing mortality provides a unique opportunity for study. The former OHAPC was expanded in 2000 to include an additional 300 nm². Illegal trawling and bottom fishing continue today as evidenced by recent seizures and arrests. Since the 1994 closure, 56 ROV dives and 15 research submersible dives explored 0.11% of the 300 mi² OHAPC. We need to begin annual, repeat transects at the same sites, seasonal transects, and increase coverage to unprotected banks recently discovered with multibeam mapping. The Banks are known spawning sites for federally-managed grouper species including gag, scamp, snowy, and speckled hind. The dominant grouper species in the OHAPC, now gag and scamp, appear to spawn in the late winter (Feb — Mar) at a time that is difficult to conduct undersea research on the Banks due to weather and seas. A new observatory approach is required to provide documentation of these populations and their reproductive activities year–round. Oceana has petitioned the federal government to include the deep–water form of O. varicosa under the Endangered Species Act. Although the species, as currently taxonomically defined, is common, there has never been a genetic analysis of the deep–versus shallow–water forms required to address this petition. Outreach efforts are needed to spread the story of deep sea corals and marine protected areas to the general public and education community. This project addresses the ‘fishing, diving and other uses’ focus area of the Local Action Strategy (LAS) for the Southeast Florida Coral Reef Initiative. The OHAPC was established to ameliorate heavy fishing pressure, thus evaluation of the OHAPC efficacy addresses fishing uses.
Objectives/Approach:
- Objective 1 — Document grouper spawning and other reproductive activities on a living Oculina reef: We propose to establish a long–term Oculina Acoustic and Video Observing System (Ocu-Doc) on Jeff's Reef, one of 2 known intact reefs left in the OHAPC. The station will include: passive acoustic hydrophone, 360º low–light digital video camera, temperature, and salinity. These units were successfully tested, recording Goliath groupers and several other sound-producing fish just inshore of the OHAPC.
- Objective 2 — Monitor and compare live coral cover, fish populations, and biodiversity in and outside the OHAPC:In 2002, a multi-beam survey covered about 60% of the reefs inside the OHAPC. Abiotic surveys alone are inadequate to map habitat. ROV transects were conducted in 2003 to ground–truth the survey and describe biological components. Multi-beam survey data allows us to conduct within–habitat ROV transects in three target study areas: OHAPC north & south and outside OHAPC. Thus, the proposed ROV transect sampling scheme per expedition involves: 3 dive areas x 5 major habitat types (determined from 2003 ROV survey excluding live coral mounds) x 3 replicates = 45 dives. Initial dive sites will be chosen based on the 2003 cruise. Divers will be used to conduct video transects, fish point counts, and coral sampling on the live reefs. Transects will be continuous strip transects used for quantification of habitat and sessile invertebrates, while point counts will be used as a less intrusive method to estimate fish abundance. Individual frames from the transects will be captured every 3-5 secs and analyzed for percent cover and megafaunal abundance.
- Objective 3 — Oculina varicosa genetics:Divers will collect coral samples from the OHAPC for genetic analysis. A current contract from NOAA to conduct these analyses will be used to compare to shallow Oculina samples collected from sites across the southeast (NC to FL). Genome will be assessed by PCR fragmentation analysis.
- Objective 4 — Outreach and education. The research cruises will serve as focal activities in support of outreach proposal also submitted to the CRCP for 2005 support. This project will fund a variety of outreach activities designed to inform the public about deep sea corals and provide teachers and students with marine science education content and hands–on experience. Deliverables: Images, transect data, and Ocu–Obs data will be incorporated into an on–going Oculina GIS. Data will contribute to peer–reviewed publication in preparation comparing OHAPC from 1978 to present; to be orally presented at 2005 International Symposium of Deep Sea Corals, Miami, FL. Technical reports will report initial results. Ship and Dive Schedule: Spring & Fall ROV & technical dive cruises will be completed in May & October 2005, respectively, addressing objectives 2 — 4. Completion of Ocu–Obs (objective 1) development & testing will be done during summer 2005, while deployment and recovery will be done from Dec. 2005 to March 2006.
Funding:
This project was peer–reviewed by the NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program for FY 2005. The total award of $153,000 includes:
- $10,000 for NOAA Fisheries — Miami Lab (Miller Objective 3)
- $20,000 for NOAA Fisheries — Panama City Lab (S. Harter contract to support objectives 1 and 2)
- $123,000 for NOAA Undersea Research Center at UNCW (shiptime to support all objectives, subawards for co–non–NOAA investigators, ROV support).