To
download the entire document, Flower Garden Banks
National Marine Sanctuary:
A Rapid Assessment of Coral, Fish, and Algae Using the AGRRA
Protocol (PDF, 192K), click
here.
|
Abstract
|
Manta ray (Manta birostris) in the Flower
Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary (Photo
credit: FGBNMS)
|
The Flower
Garden Banks are topographic features on the edge of the
continental shelf in the northwest Gulf of Mexico. These
banks are approximately 175 km southeast of Galveston, Texas
at 28o north latitude and support the
northernmost coral reefs on the North American continental
shelf. The East and West Flower Garden Banks and Stetson
Bank, a smaller sandstone bank approximately 110 km
offshore, are managed and protected as the Flower Garden
Banks National Marine Sanctuary. As part of a region-wide
initiative to assess coral reef condition, the benthic and
fish communities of the EFG and WFG were assessed using the
Atlantic and Gulf Rapid Reef Assessment (AGRRA) protocol.
The AGRRA survey was conducted during a week-long cruise in
August 1999 that was jointly sponsored by the FGBNMS and the
Reef Environmental Education Foundation (REEF). A total of
25 coral transects, 132 algal quadrats, 24 fish transects,
and 26 Roving Diver (REEF) surveys were conducted. These
surveys revealed reefs with high coral cover, dominated by
large, healthy corals, little macroalgae, and healthy fish
populations. The percent live coral cover was 53.9 and 48.8
at the WFG and EFG, respectively, and the average colony
diameter was 93 and 81 cm. Fish diversity was lower than
most Caribbean reefs, but large abundances and size of many
species reflected the low fishing pressure on the banks. The
benthic and fish assemblages at the EFG and WFG were
similar. Due to its near pristine conditions, the FGB data
will prove to be a valuable component in the AGRRA database
and its resulting scale of reef condition for the
region.
Keywords:
Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary, Atlantic and
Gulf Rapid Reef Assessment (AGRRA) Protocol, coral reef,
reef health, reef fish, monitoring
(Top)
|