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CCMA Releases "A Guide to Monitoring Reef Fish in the National Park Service's South Florida/Caribbean Network"

-Click here for pdf of the report.

September, 2007 ó The Center for Coastal Monitoring and Assessment in collaboration with the National Park Service, United States Geological Survey, National Marine Fisheries Service's Southeast Fisheries Science Center , University of Hawaii in Hilo and University of Miami developed "A Guide to Monitoring Reef Fish in the National Park Service's South Florida/Caribbean Network". The guide is intended to provide a framework for park managers and researchers to create or enhance reef fish monitoring programs in the South Florida Caribbean Network (SFCN) of parks. The framework is expected to be applicable to other areas as well, including the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary and Virgin Islands Coral Reef National Monument.

The guide highlights the need for specific monitoring objectives and the acquisition of accurate, high-precision estimates of population and community metrics at a minimum of cost. Methods of measurement (census methods), sampling designs and statistical analyses are discussed relative to this need.

The favored approach is characterized by an iterative process of data collection, dataset integration, sampling design analysis, and population and community assessment that evaluates resource risks associated with management policies. Using this model, a monitoring program can adapt its survey methods to increase accuracy and precision of survey estimates as new information becomes available, and adapt to the evolving needs and broadening responsibilities of park management.

Monitoring data is intended for park managers who are and will continue to be asked to make decisions to balance environmental protection, fishery sustainability and park use by visitors. The range and complexity of the issues outlined above, and the need for NPS to invest in a strategy of monitoring, modeling, and management to ensure the sustainability of its precious assets, will require strategic investment in long-term, high-precision, multispecies reef fish data that increases inherent system knowledge and reduces uncertainty.

The report was written as a framework instead of a single standardized monitoring protocol because of the variability in ecological condition, size, management capability, and available data among SFCN park units. Three reef fish monitoring program case studies are provided which build upon the framework using park-specific data sets, management concerns, and local partnerships.

Reef fishes are conspicuous and essential components of coral reef ecosystems and economies of southern Florida and the United States Virgin Islands (USVI). Throughout Florida and the USVI, reef fish are under threat from a variety of anthropogenic and natural stressors including overfishing, habitat loss, and environmental changes.

As coastal populations, tourism and fishing pressure continue to increase, park managers are being asked to make decisions balancing conflicting park uses, such as fishing and conservation. Balancing these conflicting uses is a complex issue, and requires an ecosystem-based management (EBM) approach. EBM considers knowledge and uncertainties in biotic, abiotic, and human components of the whole ecosystem in an attempt to balance societal objectives. The guide advocates monitoring reef fish within an EBM framework.

For more information contact Charles Menza at Charles.Menza@noaa.gov or (301) 713-3028.