The Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary was established in 1990 to protect the delicate chain of coral reefs in the Florida Keys.
The sanctuary is managed as a partnership of Florida’s Department of Environmental Protection and the federal National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Sanctuary steering and management committees also include federal, state and local agency representatives.
The sanctuary uses a variety of strategies to accomplish its conservation goals, including regulatory and marine zoning strategies that restrict fishing and human activities. Other important strategies include education and outreach to the sanctuary’s user groups and residents of the Florida Keys.
Fishers and local residents fearful of federal regulation strongly opposed the sanctuary at its inception, burning the first sanctuary superintendent in effigy. The sanctuary has overcome its tumultuous beginning, and today benefits from a collaborative relationship with user groups.
No-take areas that are off-limits to fishing have been expanded to six percent of the marine sanctuary, and an expansion of municipal wastewater treatment facilities are eliminating discharges of nutrients to the near-shore waters.
Mission
The mission of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary is to protect the natural and cultural marine resources of the Florida Keys.
Objectives
Congress established the following initial objectives of the marine sanctuary:
Lead Organizations
Federal
State
Key Parties
Federal
State
Local
Stakeholders
The Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary is managed as a partnership between the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the state of Florida. The partnership is governed by a 1997 Co-Trustees Agreement for Cooperative Management.
Administration
Administration of the marine sanctuary is led by the sanctuary superintendent, and the regional managers responsible for the upper and lower portions of the sanctuary.
Sanctuary Management Team
Day-to-day operational decisions are made by the Sanctuary Management Team, which includes a representative of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP), the sanctuary superintendent, sanctuary program manager and policy coordinator, and regional managers.
Resource Management Team
The Resource Management Team creates policies related to resource management and includes the sanctuary superintendent, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, FDEP, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FFWCC), and Monroe County Marine Resources Department.
Sanctuary Advisory Council
The Sanctuary Advisory Council provides a formal structure to engage other agencies, governments, organizations, user groups, and members of the public. Although its advice is not binding on sanctuary managers, many of its recommendations are accepted. Seats for voting members on the SAC are designated to represent user groups that include the following sectors: boating, diving, conservation, commercial, recreational and charter boat fishing, tourism, research and monitoring, and Keys residents.
Water Quality Protection Program Management Committee
Legislation creating the FKNMS also established a companion Water Quality Protection Program that addresses the near-shore water quality of the Florida Keys. The Water Quality Protection Program Management Committee administers water quality-management activities within the sanctuary. The committee includes representatives of NOAA, FDEP and EPA. A separate steering committee that includes the EPA and FDEP addresses water quality issues outside of the sanctuary.
Technical Advisory Committee
The Technical Advisory Committee provides scientific advice on the design and prioritization of projects relating to the Water Quality Protection Program, and research and monitoring activities within the sanctuary. The 24-person committee includes scientists and staff from federal and state agencies, academic institutions, private non-profit organizations and citizens.
Science Advisory Panel
The Science Advisory Panel periodically reviews the sanctuary’s research and monitoring program. It has included scientists from local academic institutions.
Within a three-week span in 1989, three commercial freighters or cargo vessels ran aground in the Florida Keys, damaging the coral reefs. The groundings triggered intense media coverage and received considerable public attention.
Concern for the health of the coral reefs, however, had been building for years. Scientists had recorded a retreat in coral cover and die-off in seagrass. People who worked on the waters also noticed declines in the health of the ecosystem. Fishermen, for instance, remarked on a decline in the populations of reef fish.
Environmentalists and user groups were concerned that previous attempts to establish marine parks and conservation measures were not working.
U.S. Rep. Dante Fascell, a Democrat from Monroe County in the Florida Keys, a longtime supporter of the environment, filed legislation to create the marine sanctuary. U.S. Senator Bob Graham, (D-Fla.), sponsored the legislation in the Senate.
A bill was passed with bipartisan support, though some Monroe County residents and fishers strongly opposed a federally-mandated marine sanctuary.
In 1990, President George H.W. Bush signed into law the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary and Preservation Act.
The Ecosystem
Stretching 220 miles southwest from the tip of Florida to the Dry Tortugas islands, the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary includes 1,700 limestone islands. The Keys are remnants of ancient coral reefs and sand bars and lie at the conflux of three watersheds.
The Keys support a biologically diverse ecosystem. More than 6,000 species of plants, fishes and invertebrates live along the shore and under the surface of the water in highly interconnected and interdependent habitats.
The coral reef tract is the third largest reef system in the world and the most extensive in North America. One-third of Florida’s endangered species spend at least part of their lives in the coral reef habitat. All but the northernmost extent of the reef tract lies within the boundaries of the marine sanctuary.
Threats
Threats to the ecosystem of the Florida Keys include:
Marine Zoning
Five types of zones were designated within the marine sanctuary to regulate human activity. No-take areas, which are off-limits to fishing and other extractive activities, encompass six percent of the sanctuary.
Regulation
Additional regulations govern vessel traffic and human activities, and prohibit touching or removing coral and discharges of treated or untreated wastewater from vessels. More than 700 buoys are used to designate areas to be avoided by vessels, signify the boundaries of no-take areas, and provide a mooring site for boats. The mooring buoys are placed near fragile coral reefs to help prevent boats from anchoring on the reefs. All sanctuary regulations are enforced by 17 officers of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission through a federal-state partnership agreement.
Outreach and Education
Outreach and education efforts are conducted in multiple settings. The sanctuary maintains a visitor’s center. Volunteers are stationed at heavily used reef sites during peak boating seasons to provide on-the-water education and information about the significance of the coral reefs and proper ways of approaching them. The sanctuary superintendent regularly speaks on a local radio program. Activities are held for middle school children. Sanctuary officials attend community events and provide brochures to tourism operators, dive shops and marinas.
Water Quality Protection
A Water Quality Protection Program was established by Congress in the legislation that created the marine sanctuary. The program does not have direct authority over Monroe County, but it recommends corrective actions and compliance schedules to reduce point and non-point sources of poor water quality. The program provides an administrative framework to enhance coordination of federal, state, and local agencies and includes a monitoring component to assess its progress.
Water Quality Monitoring Project
The Water Quality Monitoring Project is a component of the Water Quality Protection Program. More than $10 million has been spent since the beginning of the program to examine water quality, and coral and seagrass habitats. Baseline conditions and trends have been established.
The information is crucial to determine whether changes in the ecosystem can be traced to the interventions in the management plan.
Research also has sought to assess cause-and-effect relationships between pollutants and ecological impacts. Elevated nitrate levels have been found in near-shore waters, providing evidence of the need for the ongoing extension of municipal wastewater treatment facilities.
Marine Zoning Monitoring Plan
The Marine Zoning Monitoring Plan provides information to allow sanctuary managers to evaluate the zoning schemes. Fish populations and densities within and outside of the no-take zones are monitored. A socio-economic component to the monitoring plan evaluates the attitudes of user groups and Monroe County residents. Residents’ perceptions are evaluated against ecological findings to discern if the community may support new management actions.
Ecological
The marine sanctuary has reduced negative human impacts on the ecosystem. Groundings of large vessels on coral reefs decreased to two during the period of 1990 to 2006, down from six groundings within the prior five-year period.
Populations of heavily exploited species are rebounding within the no-take zones. Gray snapper, black grouper, and yellowtail snapper are benefitting from the restrictions on fishing. Spiny lobsters also are twice as abundant in the no-take zones.
Near-shore water quality is improving. The amount of phosphorus and nitrogen has decreased. Monroe County has adopted a comprehensive water quality improvement plan. Additional municipal wastewater treatment centers are being built. Forty percent of Keys residents continue to rely on septic systems, injection wells or cesspools, down from 90 percent a decade ago.
Social
Public attitudes are improving toward the marine sanctuary. A 2003 survey found that Monroe County residents would support an expansion of marine zoning to cover 20 to 25 percent of the marine sanctuary. Still, sanctuary officials say commercial fishermen remain heavily opposed to the marine sanctuary.
The Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary has been facilitated by the following factors:
The Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary has encountered the following challenges:
People involved in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary have learned:
Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary: http://floridakeys.noaa.gov/