Status of Coral Reefs in the US Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico: Florida, Texas, Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands and Navassa

United States Federal funding for regional mapping, monitoring, and management of coral reef ecosystems of Florida, Texas, Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands and Navassa increased significantly in 2000. The US Coral Reef Task Force outlined a National Action Plan, which the National Ocean Service (NOS) of NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) funded some of the activities relevant to the US Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico. Besides the NOS cooperative grants of over US$0.6 million to assess and monitor coral reef ecosystems and to complete several projects outlined in the All Islands Initiative ‘Green Book’, NOS has spent several months mapping coral reefs off the US Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. Additionally, NOS provided a further US$1million of FY2000 funding cooperative grants for coral reef research and monitoring to the National Coral Reef Initiative (NCRI), and the Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources. NCRI grant projects include mapping, monitoring, and research conducted on Florida East Coast coral reef ecosystems. Puerto Rico will initiate assessments and set up at least 16 long-term monitoring sites at selected reefs around Puerto Rico, and a cooperative grant will result in a baseline characterisation of coral reef and seagrass communities off Vieques Island. The US Virgin Island grant will support a multi-agency effort among the Virgin Island Department of Planning and Natural Resources, the US Geological Survey, the University of the Virgin Islands, and the National Park Service to establish baseline conditions prior to the anticipated establishment of marine reserves so that their effectiveness in promoting recovery of fish assemblages and marine habitats can be evaluated. The hope is that such heightened attention to coral reef issues in this region will continue into the near future, the following recommendations are proposed for regional scale action: • Identify hydrological and ecological ecosystem linkages at regional scales; • Establish procedures to reduce regional water quality stresses to coral reefs; • Determine sources and sinks of marine resources on a regional scale; • Use satellite resources to map and track watershed influences and aid in characterising the oceanographic patterns both upstream and downstream of coral reef areas; • Establish cross-boundary and cross-jurisdictional agreements to manage reef areas using an ecosystem approach; 239 BILLY CAUSEY, JOANNE DELANEY, ERNESTO DIAZ, DICK DODGE, JORGE R. GARCIA, JAMIE HIGGINS, WALTER JAAP, CRUZ A. MATOS, GEORGE P. SCHMAHL, CAROLINE ROGERS, MARGARET W. MILLER AND DONNA D. TURGEON Status of Coral Reefs of the World: 2000 • Establish domestic and international agreements within a region to address coral reef issues, including protocols for marine resource management and protection; • Establish and implement consistent research and monitoring procedures; and • Share information that will facilitate cross-jurisdictional management of marine resources, such as when spawning aggregations of species within another jurisdiction feed larvae into the nursery areas elsewhere.