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NOAA 2005 Crab Sampling Effort

Land crab tagged in ice chestThe map below shows the sampling locations for fiddler crab and land crab.  The sampling effort was undertaken by NOAA and USFWS in the summer of 2005 in order to determine whether the selected biota from Vieques Island is contaminated with hazardous or toxic substances.

Fourteen sampling locations were originally proposed: six locations on western Vieques, six locations on eastern Vieques and two reference locations.  The sampling locations were selected to represent areas where land crab are actively being harvested, or where the USFWS may open the location (for sites on the Vieques National Wildlife Refuge) to land crab harvesting.

A reference location on Vieques Island was selected in an area of similar habitat where exposure to substances released from past military or other activities is considered unlikely.  Because there is little regional "background" data against which to compare the Vieques Island data, an additional reference area was selected from a similar habitat in an undisturbed wildlife refuge on the main island of Puerto Rico.

Map of Vieques Biota Sampling 2005

The following map shows the actual crab sampling locations.  Click on a sampling location point or name to open the specific sampling location map.  A detailed cartographic map and the individual sampling maps are also available below.

Crab Sampling Locations and Field Notes

During the sampling effort, some changes had to be made to accommodate field conditions.  Specifically:

  • Although the sampling effort was extended, fiddler crab were not collected at the Blue Horizon reference location because there was no suitable habitat.
  • Mosquito Bay was sampled instead of Sun Bay because of permitting issues.  The Mosquito Bay site is believed to be similar to Sun Bay and to be a recruiting habitat for land crab.
  • The sample area originally referred to as Laguna Arenas in the sampling and analysis plan was actually moved to Laguna Kiani at the request of USFWS; the name of the sample area has therefore been changed to Laguna Kiani South.

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Page Updated 6/8/2007