Transcript Acropora - Caribbean Fisheries Management Council

ESA Section 7 Requirements & the
Caribbean Reef Fish Fishery:
Effects on Threatened Acropora and
Their Designated Critical Habitat
Jennifer Lee
Fishery Management Liaison
Southeast Regional Office, Protected Resources
Division
Purpose of Presentation
• To facilitate meaningful discussion about:
—the probable effects of the reef fish fishery on
Acropora and Acropora Critical Habitat
—additional measures considered that could be
taken to reduce effects
• To provide the Council with input on the Draft ACL
Amendment and inform its decision-making process
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Presentation Overview
• ESA Legal & Regulatory Framework
• Past & Present Consultation History
• Key Facts about Listed Acropora Species & Their
Designated Critical Habitat
• Acropora Critical Habitat & the Role of Parrotfishes
• Input on the Draft ACL Amendment & Additional
Alternatives to Consider
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ESA Section 7 Requirements
• Section 7(a)(1) Affirmative Conservation Mandate:
All Federal agencies shall use their authorities to
carry out their programs for the conservation of
endangered & threatened species.
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ESA Section 7 Requirements
& Listed Species
• Section 7(a)(2) Duty to Avoid Jeopardy:
Each federal agency, in consultation with the
“Secretary”, must ensure that any action authorized,
funded, or carried out by them is not likely to
jeopardize the continued existence of any T/E
species
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ESA Section 7 Requirements
& Critical Habitat
• Section 7(a)(2) Duty to Avoid DAM:
Each federal agency, in consultation with the
“Secretary”, must ensure that any action authorized,
funded, or carried out by them is not likely to result in
the destruction or adverse modification (DAM) of
critical habitat
•
DAM is equivalent to finding jeopardy, except there
is no incidental adverse modification
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What is a Biological Opinion?
• An analytical document that looks at the effects of a
Federal “action” on endangered and threatened
species and their designated critical habitat
• Identifies whether or not the action is likely to
jeopardize the continued existence of a listed species
or result in DAM
• Is the product of the formal consultation process
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The 2005 Biological Opinion
• Analyzed all Caribbean fisheries managed by the
CFMC and NOAA Fisheries Service
• Anticipated adverse effects on sea turtles via hookand-line gear interactions
• Concluded not likely to jeopardize any listed species
• Issued an incidental take statement including
reasonable and prudent measures and implementing
terms and conditions to minimize post-release
mortality and monitor take
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Reinitiation of Formal Consultation
• March 30, 2010: SERO, Sustainable Fisheries
Division formally requested reinitiation of section 7
consultation on the Reef Fish FMP to address
Acropora and Acropora critical habitat
• Formal Consultation Timeline:
—135 days, once all necessary information
received, including description of proposed action
• Best available scientific and commercial information;
Err on the side of conservation for the species
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Key Facts about Acropora
• Branching, colonial corals
• Historically very abundant, important reef-builders
• Found in shallow (less than 30 m) tropical reefs
throughout the Bahamas, Florida, and the Caribbean
—Elkhorn 1-5 m, turbulent, shallow water
—Staghorn 5-15 m, protected, deeper water
• Optimum water temperature: 25-29C, 66˚F to 86˚F
• Sexual and asexual reproduction
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Key Facts about Acropora
• May 9, 2006: Elkhorn and Staghorn Corals listed as
Threatened under the ESA
1975
1985
1995
2004
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4(d) Rule for Elkhorn & Staghorn Corals
Effective Friday, Nov. 21, 2008
The 4(d) rule makes it illegal to:
— TAKE (harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap,
capture, or collect, or to attempt to engage in any such
conduct) elkhorn or staghorn corals
— IMPORT elkhorn or staghorn corals (dead or alive) into the United
States
— EXPORT elkhorn or staghorn corals (dead or alive) out of the
United States
— POSSESS, SELL, DELIVER, CARRY, TRANSPORT, OR SHIP
illegally taken elkhorn or staghorn corals
— Deliver, receive, carry, transport, or ship elkhorn or staghorn corals
commercially
— SELL or OFFER FOR SALE elkhorn or staghorn corals
The maximum fine for violating the U.S. Endangered Species Act is
$25,000 and 6 months in jail.
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Designated Critical Habitat for
Threatened Acropora Spp.
• November 26, 2008: Final Critical Habitat
Designation Published in Federal Register
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Critical Habitat
• ESA defines critical habitat as:
“the specific areas within the geographical area
occupied by the species, on which are found those
physical or biological features (I) essential to the
conservation of the species and (II) which may
require special management considerations or
protection.”
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Key Facts about Acropora
Designated Critical Habitat
• Conservation objective:
— Facilitate increased incidence of successful sexual
and asexual reproduction, i.e., increased
incidence of larval settlement and recruitment and
reattachment and recruitment of asexual fragment
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Key Facts about Acropora
Designated Critical Habitat
• The Essential Feature
— Substrate of suitable quality and availability to
support larval settlement and recruitment, and
reattachment and recruitment of asexual
fragments.
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Key Facts about Acropora
Designated Critical Habitat
• Suitable Substrate:
— Natural consolidated hard substrate or dead coral
skeleton that is free from fleshy or turf macroalgae
cover and sediment cover in water 30 m or less in
depth
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Suitable Substrate
Natural consolidated hard substrate or dead coral skeleton
that is free from fleshy or turf macroalgae cover and
sediment cover in water 30 m or less in depth
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Areas that do not provide the
essential feature
natural sites covered with loose sediment, fleshy
macroalgal covered hardbottom, or seagrasses
Photo credit: FKNMS
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Activities that may affect critical
habitat – three general categories
• Physical destruction
• Nutrient enrichment via sewage, stormwater and agricultural
runoff, river discharge, groundwater
• Sedimentation resulting from land-use practices
and from dredging and disposal activities
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How May U.S. Caribbean Reef Fish
Fisheries be Effected?
• Measures may need to be implemented to reduce
harvest of herbivorous fishes in the U.S. Caribbean
Reef Fish Fishery to ensure no “damage or adverse
modifications” are occurring to Acropora critical
habitat through the removal of key grazing species or
species groups.
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Critical Habitat & the
Importance of Herbivores
• Acropora critical habitat final rule:
“Overfishing of herbivorous fishes and the mass dieoff of long-spined sea urchin Diadema antillarum are
considered two of the primary contributing factors to
the recent shift in benthic community structure from
the dominance of stony corals to that of fleshy
macroalgae on Caribbean coral reefs.
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Grazing & Parrotfish
• Parrotfish may serve as a keystone species (Paine,
1969) and that fishing effects on parrotfish grazing
may profoundly influence coral dynamics (Mumby et
al., 2007).
• Active management of parrotfishes is both highly
desirable and a feasible conservation goal (Mumby et
al., 2007)
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Puerto
Rico
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St. Croix, U.S.V.I.
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St. Thomas & St. John,
U.S.V.I.
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Input On Draft ACL Amendment
• Consider additional alternatives to protect
parrotfishes
• Alternatives to consider:
—Set parrotfish ACL conservatively
—Improve cooperation and enforcement of net ban
—Consider further gear restrictions on directed harvest
parrotfishes
—Reduce traps through a trap reduction program
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For Additional Information
• http://sero.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/esa/acropora.htm
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