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This document presents the results of the first three monitoring
events to track the recovery of a repaired coral reef injured by
the M/V Elpis vessel grounding incident of November 11, 1989. This
grounding occurred within the boundaries of what at the time was
designated the Key Largo National Marine Sanctuary (NMS), now
designated the Key Largo NMS Existing Management Area within the
Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary (FKNMS). The restoration
monitoring program tracks patterns of biological recovery,
determines the success of restoration measures, and assesses the
resiliency to environmental and anthropogenic disturbances of the
site over time. To evaluate restoration success, reference habitats
adjacent to the restoration site are concurrently monitored to
compare the condition of restored reef areas with "natural" coral
reef areas unimpacted by the vessel grounding or other injury. The
monitoring program at the Elpis site includes an assessment of the
structural stability of installed limestone restoration boulders,
and comparison of the recovery of coral populations, to be
performed on the following schedule: nine, ten, twelve, and fifteen
years after restoration. Restoration of this site was completed in
the summer of 1995 with monitoring planned to begin in following
years. However, due to staffing and other logistical constraints,
the first biological monitoring event for this site, used as a
"pilot project" to establish data collection methods, was delayed
until August 2004. In June and July 2005, the second monitoring
event took place, and in August 2007, the third. This report
presents the quantitative results of the latter two monitoring
events.
This document presents the results of the monitoring of a repaired
coral reef injured by the M/V Jacquelyn L vessel grounding incident
of July 7, 1991. This grounding occurred in Florida state waters
within the boundaries of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary
(FKNMS). The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
and the Board of Trustees of the Internal Improvement Trust Fund of
the State of Florida, ("State of Florida" or "state") are the
co-trustees for the natural resources within the FKNMS and, thus,
are responsible for mediating the restoration of the damaged marine
resources and monitoring the outcome of the restoration actions.
The monitoring program at the Jacquelyn L site was to have included
an assessment of the structural stability of installed restoration
modules and biological condition of reattached corals performed on
the following schedule: immediately (i.e., baseline), 1, 3, and 6
years after restoration and following a catastrophic event.
Restoration of this site was completed on July 20, 2000. Due to
unavoidable delays in the settlement of the case, the "baseline"
monitoring event for this site occurred in July 2004. The
catastrophic monitoring event occurred on August 31, 2004, some 2
1/2 weeks after the passage of Hurricane Charley which passed
nearby, almost directly over the Dry Tortugas. In September 2005,
the year one monitoring event occurred shortly after the passage of
Hurricane Katrina, some 70 km to the NW. This report presents the
results of all three monitoring event
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