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Tortugas Cruise 2007: Overview

Personnel
NOAA NCCOS Center for Coastal Fisheries and Habitat Research
  • John Burke
  • Brian Degan
  • Don Field
  • Mark Fonseca
  • Brett Harrison
  • David Johnson
  • Amit Malhotra
  • Greg Piniak
  • Amy Uhrin
  • Jenny Vander Pluym
  • Shay Viehman (Chief Scientist)
NOAA NCCOS
  • Ruth Kelty
NOAA NCCOS Center for Coastal Monitoring and Assessment's Biogeography Branch
  • Kimberly Foley
National Park Service, Biscayne National Park
  • Vanessa McDonough
  • Shelby Moneysmith
NOAA Ship Nancy Foster, a Research VesselNOAA Ship Nancy Foster




Cruise title: Comparative analysis of the function of disturbed and undisturbed coral reef and non–coral ecosystems in the Tortugas: Measuring the refugia effect of establishing a reserve.
Cruise dates: August 25–31, 2007
Cruise Number: NF–07–12–TER
Area of Operation: Tortugas Ecological Reserve; sailing from Key West, FL on the NOAA Ship NANCY FOSTER.
Cruise Objectives:

  1. Divers will revisit 30 permanent sites and conduct fish surveys and benthic habitat surveys both on the coral reef and out onto the sand that borders the coral reef. These 30 sites were initially established in 2000, when the Tortugas Reserve was implemented by the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, and have been revisited every year from 2001–2005.
  2. Examination of impacts of shrimp trawling on soft–bottom habitats in the northern Tortugas area using drop cameras and nighttime beam trawling.
  3. Quantification of the physical environment around the Tortugas banks using light profiles, installation of long–term temperature loggers, and an acoustic wave and current profiler.
  4. Remote sensing for benthic habitat classification using drop cameras and acoustic bottom classification.

Biogeographic Assessment of the Dry Tortugas

On this research cruise, we will continue an ongoing biogeographic assessment of the Tortugas Ecological Reserve in the Dry Tortugas, FL. The Reserve was implemented in 2001 by the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary; in the same year, CCFHR scientists established 30 permanent sites in the Dry Tortugas from which to examine changes in fish and coral reef communities resulting from implementation of the marine reserve. These study sites range from 54–103ft depth and are at the edges of the Tortugas Banks. Sites were selected to be at the edges of coral reefs in order to investigate energy flow across habitat boundaries. We have surveyed these sites annually from 2001 to 2005 and plan to revisit them this year.


For more information
Fort Jefferson from the air
Photo from above Fort Jefferson, Dry Tortugas, Florida. Photo credit: Michael O'Leary, U.S. Imaging, Inc.