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Integrated Ecosystem Assessment

NOAA is working with our federal and commonwealth partners to conduct a broad-scale characterization of Vieques’ coral reef ecosystems using established assessment and monitoring techniques currently employed throughout the U.S. Caribbean as part of NOAA’s National Coral Reef Ecosystem Monitoring Program (NCREMP).  Although the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico is currently part of this program, monitoring efforts undertaken to date have primarily concentrated on the main island.  Expansion of long-term monitoring efforts using standardized protocols to Vieques would enable the condition of coral reef ecosystems there to be evaluated in the context of the rest of the Commonwealth, the U.S. Caribbean, and the nation as a whole.  Furthermore, the proposed monitoring work would ensure that Vieques data would be represented in the next release of The State of Coral Reef Ecosystems of the U.S. and Pacific Freely Associated States, which is currently slated for publication in 2008.  Contingent on future funding, this assessment will provide the basis for establishment of a long-term monitoring strategy for Vieques that is consistent with and complementary to other NCREMP activities as well as information on trends in the condition of resources to support effective management.

The approach to characterizing the island’s coral reef ecosystems will consist of two main components.  First, available information from previous studies will be gathered and integrated into a single document describing the islands marine ecology.  This will include available data on reefs, fish, birds, seagrasses, turtles, mangroves, climate, geology, currents, pollutants, and human uses.  Once integrated into a unified characterization, a suite of field surveys will be designed to further characterize marine habitats, organisms, and human impacts. Using established protocols and monitoring methods that are consistent with other NOAA and DOI monitoring efforts in the region, we propose to collect detailed information about the benthic habitats, fish and invertebrate communities, and water quality at approximately 70 sites around Vieques to a maximum depth of 80 ft (24m).  Site selection will be stratified by habitat type (seagrass, coral-colonized hardbottom, sand, etc.), historical use (active bombing, restricted non-target zone, civilian access areas, etc.), and proximity to key watershed outflows to provide an assessment of the effect of these parameters on the living marine resources of Vieques.  The proposed two week field mission will take place in late 2006 or early 2007. From this data, many measures of ecosystem health will be derived.

Data collected as part of this project will be entered into the Center for Coastal Monitoring and Assessment's (CCMA) web-based database called the Reef Fish Database. This database has been used to store and analyze data collected throughout the U.S. Caribbean by the CCMA's Biogeography Team since 1999.  The database, and thus the data proposed for collection under this project, is publicly-accessible without cost to users through a web-based interface.  In addition, we propose to provide analysis of the information and summary results in a written report that will be transmitted to the funding source and made available to the Vieques community.  The report will also propose a strategy for monitoring the coral reef ecosystems of Vieques in the future as a part of an expanded integrated monitoring program throughout the U.S. Caribbean. 

Objectives of this study are to:

1. Synthesize the results of coral reef ecosystem studies of Vieques resources that have been conducted to date (as available and relevant).
2. Collect monitoring data in Vieques to complement previous efforts and provide a broad characterization of the benthic community, fish and invertebrate communities, and water quality.  Data collection efforts will be stratified by habitat type, prior marine zoning, watershed outflow points, and other factors as identified by objective 1.
3. Analyze the collected data to determine the relative health of Vieques coral reef ecosystems in the context of territorial, regional, and national ecosystem condition.
4. Evaluate results and incorporate them into the Puerto Rico chapter of the 2008 “State of Coral Reef Ecosystems of the United States and Pacific Freely Associated States.”
5. Propose an appropriate monitoring strategy for the coral reef ecosystem resources in Vieques in an effort to achieve long-term monitoring objectives at all levels, including the local community, the Puerto Rico DPNR, and NOAA’s NCREMP.

Key Products:

1. Integrated discussion of prior research on the living marine resources around Vieques.
2. Broad-scale characterization of nearshore areas of Vieques including new data on fish, invertebrates, and benthic communities.
3. Analysis and discussion of new data in the context of prior studies.
4. GIS layers documenting survey locations, habitat types surveyed, use strata, etc.
5. A strategy for continuing monitoring efforts for Vieques as part of an integrated monitoring program for the U.S. Caribbean

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