Ocean Conservancy Releases Report On Reef Management: How Florida and National Park Service Marine Reserve Policies Undermine Efforts to Protect Coral Reef Ecosystems
Coral reef ecosystems in Biscayne National Park threatened by policies calling for reserves only when "absolutely necessary" despite fisheries on brink of collapse

July 8, 2008

Media Contact: Tim McHugh

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Coral Reef Fellowship molds conservation leaders

International Coral Reef Symposium (Fort Lauderdale, FL) - Today, Ocean Conservancy releases a report documenting the lack of necessary protections for coral reef ecosystems in Biscayne National Park by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) and the National Park Service (NPS). In 2007, both agencies renewed an agreement until 2012, which prohibits implementing marine reserves to protect coral reefs unless all parties deem it "absolutely necessary". This decision comes after a scientific survey indicating that reef fish populations are on the brink of ecological collapse from fishing pressures. Yet FWC and NPS have taken no action to fulfill their obligations to protect coral reef ecosystems in Biscayne National Park since they began reviewing their management plans in 2002.

"Biscayne National Park once had some of the most spectacular coral reefs in Florida. The native communities they support desperately need our immediate action," said David White, Director of Ocean Conservancy’s Southeastern Regional Office in St. Petersburg, FL. "Science shows that the hands-off approach that Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the National Park Service have taken over the years is undermining efforts to restore vital and fragile reef ecosystems in Biscayne National Park. How much longer will they stand by and do nothing to protect these resources?"

The current state of coral reef ecosystems in Biscayne National Park is in stark contrast to the robust ecosystems that the Park supported when Congress established it in 1980. In 1983, NPS adopted a management plan establishing intent to manage recreational and commercial fishing to bring fish populations back to levels prior to fishing pressure. However, an assessment of fish populations and habitats in the park in 2001 concluded that, following decades of significant recreational and commercial fishing pressure and related habitat impacts, the extremely poor status of reef fish resources signaled "imminent resource collapse."

In 2002, NPS and FWC, which share jurisdiction over fishing in the park, agreed to jointly develop a plan to manage fishing for the next 10 to 15 years. The agreement included a policy of only considering marine reserves within the park if all parties agree it is "absolutely necessary". This agreement was renewed until 2012, despite a draft environmental impact statement acknowledging that marine reserves are required to protect and conserve ecosystem biodiversity, function, and services, and to begin to restore fishery-impacted ecosystems to natural levels.

Coral reef ecosystems in Biscayne National Park are set in urban areas, which require a higher level of protection. The policy of marine reserves only if "absolutely necessary" precludes efforts to protect natural resources from impairment in national parks in the United States, and it undermines a "key conservation objective" of the United States Coral Reef Task Force to protect 20 percent of Florida’s coral reefs as marine reserves by 2010.