AGRRA 1999 Highlights

Regional Update - 1999

The AGGRA Program made substantial progress in 1998-99 towards building capacity and establishing a regional baseline of coral reef condition in the Western Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico. Training participants in applying the AGRRA Protocol is essential for capacity building as well as ensuring that assessments made by different teams are comparable. For these reasons, we organized two training workshops this past year. The first was for 12 participants in Bonaire, sponsored by the Bonaire Marine Park and hosted by its director, Kalli De Meyer. The second for 24 reef scientists from Central America was sponsored by the World Bank/Netherlands Environmental Partnership Fund and held in Akumal, Mexico. These intensive five-day workshops combined numerous field exercises, presentations, hands-on data analysis, and discussions. The best measure of the success of these Workshops is that many of the participants have lead or participated in subsequent AGRRA assessments.

Since June 1998, thirteen large-scale AGRRA assessments have been completed and the results are being prepared for publication. Short summaries of each assessment are posted on our Web Site (http://www.agrra.org).
Support for AGRRA has come from the Bacardi Family Foundation, Hachette Filipacchi Foundation, The Henry Foundation, National Geographic Society Committee for Research and Exploration, Ocean Research and Education Foundation, The Caribbean Environment Programme-United Nations Environment Programme, United States Department of Interior, and the World Bank/Netherlands Partnership Program. Below are some of the highlights from these surveys.

(Click on image to see larger version.)

Many reefs of the Wider Caribbean are in relatively good condition:

Intermediate-deep reefs of the Flower Gardens, Los Roques, Venezuela, and Bonaire are in very good condition with all areas having high (40-50%) coral cover, large coral sizes, low macroalgae (~<20%), low recent mortality (~<2%), and good representations of fish populations.
The majority of other areas surveyed (Cayman Islands, St. Vincent, Andros, Turks and Caiços, and Cuba) are in good condition but with some moderate disturbances (e.g., overfishing, tourism).
The Andros Island Reef System, some 150 km long, contains remarkably healthy shallow reefs with extensive stands of living Acropora palmata.
Old mortality of reef building corals is low to moderate (~20-30%) in most areas.
Although much of the Caribbean experienced a major coral bleaching event in the summer/fall 1998, the majority of areas surveyed recovered with only minor coral mortality affecting selected species.
Herbivorous fish (e.g., scarids and acanthurids) abundances appear moderate to high in most areas.

Selected reef areas are showing signs of disturbance and decline:

Moderate to severe coral mortality was observed in portions of the Bahamas and in much of South Central Belize and Honduras associated with the 1998 bleaching event.
Significant amounts of standing old dead Acropora occur in portions of Mexico, Bahamas, Turks and Caicos, Honduras, South Central Belize, and Venezuela.
Coral diseases are moderate to high in Belize, Honduras, and areas of the Bahamas & Cuba.
Macroalgal abundances are moderate to high (>25%) in Belize, Honduras, Bahamas, Mexico, and Cuba.
Herbivorous fish abundances are low in San Salvador, Bahamas; Cuba; and Mexico. Low abundances and smaller sizes of commercial fishes are found in these same areas, as well as in St. Vincent.

Next Steps

There are currently additional assessments underway in Mexico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Saba, Belize, Curaçao, and Brazil. Goals for the AGGRA Program over the next two years include collaboration of team leaders to synthesize data for regional comparisons of reef condition, developing a regional database accessible to all, and expanding assessments to additional areas in the region. The target date for completing the assessment of the Western Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico region is the end of the year 2001. AGRRA welcomes collaboration and partnerships with individuals and organizations interested in this large-scale effort.

Prepared by Robert Ginsburg and Philip Kramer for the AGRRA organizing committee.
MGG/RSMAS, University of Miami, 4600 Rickenbacker Cswy., Miami, FL 33149.
Email: rginsburg@rsmas.miami.edu

#	Area	# of sites	Team Leaders
1	Bahamas, Abaco Island	13	Joshua Feingold, Nova Southeastern University
2	Bahamas, Andros Island	61	Philip Kramer & Patricia Kramer Univ. of Miami
3	Bahamas, San Salvador	11	Paulette Peckol, Allen Curran, & Ben Greenstein, Smith College
4	Belize, Lighthouse Reef	12	Julie Robinson, Belize Audubon Society
5	Belize, S. central region	9	Paulette Peckol, H. Allen Curran, Smith College
6	Bonaire, Bonaire Marine Park	6	Philip Kramer, Univ. of Miami & Kalli De Meyer, Bonaire Marine Park
7	Cayman, Little and Grand	33	Carrie Manfrino, Kean Univ. & Bernhard Riegl, Univ.of Graz
8	Cuba, SW coast	4	Pedro Alcolado & Rodolfo Claro, Inst. Oceanol.
9	Honduras, Cayos Cochinos- Bay Islands	9	Carlos Garcia, Cayos Cochinos Research Station
10	Mexico, Akumal/Xcalak	12	Robert Steneck, Univ. of Maine & Judith Lang, Texas Museum
11	Mexico, Veracruz	9+	Guillermo Horta-Puga & Guadalupe Barba-Santos, Tultitlan, MX
12	Mexico, Yucatan	6	J. Ernesto Arias, CINVESTAV-Univ. Merida
13	Netherlands Antilles	24	Kristi Klomp, Michigan State Univ.
14	St. Vincent	5	Alice Deschamps & André Desrochers Univ. of Ottawa
15	US, Flower Gardens	2	Christy Pattengill-Semmens, REEF & Tom Shyka, NOAA's Nat. Marine Sanctuary
16	Turks & Caicos	28	Carrie Manfrino, Kean Univ. & Bernhard Riegl, Univ.of Graz
17	USVI	12	Richard Nemeth, Univ. VI & Laddie Akins, REEF
18	Venezuela, Los Roques	12	Estrella Villamizar Univ. Central & Juan Posada, Simon Bolivar Univ.

Return to AGRRA home page	.	Last updated: 27 November, 2000
Robert N. Ginsburg Atlantic and Gulf Rapid Reef Assessment MGG-RSMAS, University of Miami 4600 Rickenbacker Causeway Miami, FL 33149 USA	.	Tel: (305) 421-4664 Fax: (305) 421-4094 Email: agrra@rsmas.miami.edu URL: http://www.agrra.org

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