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 A research team diver and expedition leader, Dr. Jerald Ault of the University of Miami takes a census of marine life in the Dry Tortugas region. From 1999 to 2000, the team made more than 3,000 dives of this type and documented overfishing. Dr. Jiangang Luo, University of Miami
Brien Culhane
Back to Chapter 4: Marine and Coastal Resource Protection Articles Coral reefs in American Samoa: A practical approach to monitoring By Peter Craig Evolution of coral reef monitoring at Virgin Islands By Jeff Miller USGS science for coastal national parks By Rebecca L. Beavers Shifting sands: The challenges of managing NPS coastal resources By Julia Brunner and Rebecca Beavers Other Developments Award-winner Profile - Dr. Charles Roman honored Damage assessment process bears fruit |
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 By Brien Culhane, AICP The largest fully protected marine reserve in the United States became a reality in July 2001 with the completion of the new general management plan for Dry Tortugas National Park, Florida. This plan establishes a 46-square-mile research natural area where extractive activities, including fishing, will be prohibited. Fifty-four square miles of the park will remain open to recreational fishing. The research natural area complements the adjacent 151-square-mile Tortugas Ecological Reserve in the waters of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, established in April 2001. The success of the park and sanctuary planning efforts resulted from extensive stakeholder participation, strong public support, interagency cooperation, advances in national policy for marine protected areas, and, most importantly, the use of the best available science. Located 70 miles west of Key West, Dry Tortugas National Park encompasses seven small islands and 100 square miles of the Gulf of Mexico. The park’s enabling legislation explicitly directs that fish and wildlife are to be protected and the ecosystem is to remain intact and unimpaired. In 1990, much of the surrounding waters gained protection with the establishment of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, managed jointly by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the State of Florida. In addition to its clear waters, lush coral reefs, and stunning array of marine and bird life, the Dry Tortugas region plays a critical role in the dynamics of the larger Florida Keys coral reef ecosystem. Larvae spawned in this region are dispersed by currents throughout the Keys and up the southeastern coast, helping to replenish depleted fisheries in Florida and beyond. Although the park is isolated, its visitation quadrupled from 23,000 in 1994 to more than 95,000 in 2000. The rapid increase in popularity resulted in crowding, noise, strained facilities and a decline in the quality of the visitor experience. Coral reefs and water quality also began to show the effects of concentrated use. During this period, scientists from the University of Miami; NOAA’s Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, National Undersea Research Center, and National Marine Fisheries Service; and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission documented impacts from recreational and commercial fishing in the Tortugas region. Reef fish populations were significantly depleted, threatening the integrity and natural dynamics of the ecosystem. Increases in the size and number of vessels on the water and improvements in navigation and fishing gear contributed to these trends. To ensure that resources and quality visitor experiences are protected, park management initiated the general management planning process in 1998. At the same time, the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary was initiating a plan to establish the Tortugas Ecological Reserve, also a no-take area, adjacent to the park. Although the National Park Service and NOAA have different missions, they share common goals for Tortugas ecosystem health. By coordinating science, planning, and public involvement, and through collaboration with state agencies, park and sanctuary managers sought to minimize public confusion and maximize participation in the planning process. On a global scale, 1998 was declared the “Year of the Ocean” by the United Nations, drawing attention to the worldwide collapse of fisheries and the associated socioeconomic impacts. In June of that year, President Clinton issued Executive Order 13089, calling for greater understanding of coral reefs through mapping, inventories, and research. This action also mandated greater reef protection, anticipating the possible closure of some reefs to commercial and recreational fishing. A March 2000 report of the U.S. Coral Reef Task Force, created by this executive order, called for the protection of at least 20% of all U.S. coral reefs and their associated habitats in no-take ecological reserves by 2010. This evolution in policy, concurrent with the burgeoning visitor pressures on Dry Tortugas National Park, boosted the planning process by broadening public and agency support for establishing no-take zones in the Tortugas ecosystem. Yet, most critical to gaining support for the Dry Tortugas Research Natural Area and the national marine sanctuary’s Tortugas Ecological Reserve was a commitment to using the best available science. In 1998 the park and sanctuary commissioned a Site Characterization for the Dry Tortugas Region that synthesized current knowledge of physical oceanography, benthic (bottom-dwelling) communities, and fisheries. These scientific analyses were used in developing a range of alternatives for the research natural area and the Tortugas Ecological Reserve. Boundaries of the research natural area were based on regional fisheries surveys, physical oceanographic and larval dispersal pathways, benthic habitat investigations, and enforcement and socioeconomic considerations. Research on existing no-take reserves indicated that for the research natural area and the ecological reserve to be biologically effective, the full range of land and marine habitats and their associated communities had to be included in these areas. The national marine sanctuary’s reserve, with its deep reefs and habitats, provides spawning areas for fish while the national park’s research natural area, with its shallow reefs and sea grass beds, provides nurseries for commercially important fish and a multitude of other marine species. To gain additional information, in 1999 the Department of the Interior and NOAA asked the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences to examine the utility of marine reserves and protected areas for conserving fisheries, habitats, and biological diversity. The council’s report, Marine Protected Areas: Tools for Sustaining Ocean Ecosystems, endorses the increased use of no-take marine reserves, in concert with conventional management approaches, as tools for managing ocean resources. In June 2000 the national park and national marine sanctuary released their draft plans for public review. The goal of the general management plan is to protect natural and cultural resources while providing for visitor use and enjoyment consistent with the purposes of the park. This would be accomplished through management zoning, establishing visitor carrying capacity, and using commercial services to structure and direct visitor use. Comments on the draft general management plan were overwhelmingly supportive of establishing the research natural area. Out of 6,000 comments received, 97% favored the prohibition of extractive activities in this area. Some sports fishing groups, who maintain that properly regulated recreational fishing has no negative impacts on fish populations, expressed strong opposition to the area’s creation. Environmental groups supported the proposal, as did the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, NOAA, and the Gulf of Mexico Fisheries Management Council. In January 2001 the final Dry Tortugas General Management Plan was made available to the public. In June, following months of review, additional public input, and a change in administrations, President Bush and Governor Jeb Bush visited Everglades National Park and expressed their support for implementing the plan. On July 27, Secretary Norton approved it and the record of decision was signed. In announcing approval of the plan, the secretary stated, “This plan has been developed with broad public outreach and a great deal of participation with the State of Florida, fishing organizations, and interest groups…. My goal for this plan in the future,” she elaborated, “is that recreational and commercial fishermen will see more and bigger fish, more conch and lobster in Florida Bay and the Straits of Florida, as a result of the critical spawning and marine nurseries we are protecting in the park.” Upon completion of a rulemaking process to change the park’s fishing regulations, the Dry Tortugas Research Natural Area will be the largest fully protected marine area in the National Park System and, with the Tortugas Ecological Reserve, the third largest coral reef protected area in the world. Combined, the two areas will constitute the largest no-take reserve in the United States. With the creation of the research natural area, Dry Tortugas National Park hopes to realize the area’s full potential and offer outstanding opportunities for visitor education and appreciation of an intact marine ecosystem. The research natural area will provide tangible long-term benefits for protection of marine resources in the national park and the national marine sanctuary, and for recreational and commercial fishers. It also will advance science, serving as a reference site for distinguishing between natural and human-induced changes to the Florida Keys ecosystem. Effective implementation and enforcement will require coordination among federal and state agencies and active input from community, commercial, and recreational interests. In August the National Park System Advisory Board called upon the National Park Service to be a leader in developing and implementing a strategically designed system of no-take marine reserves, covering a broad range of marine habitats. This call to leadership, and the lessons learned during the Tortugas planning effort, will be valuable for parks and sanctuaries working to protect vital marine resources. |
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This material is from Natural Resource Year in Review--2001, published by the National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, in May 2001 (publication D-2255) /YearInReview/yir/yir2001/04_marine/04_1_culhane.html Last Updated: |
