Pickering, N., Baker, E.

Watershed Scale Planning to Reduce LBSP for the Protection of Coral Reef Ecosystems in Southeast Florida. Meeting summary report

2015

Sandwich, MA

Horsley Witten Group, Inc.

101

"The NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program has been working as an integral partner in the Southeast Florida Coral Reef Initiative (SEFCRI) to improve the understanding, management and protection of the southeast Florida coral reef tract. As part of this effort, the SEFCRI partnership has focused on the issue of land based sources of pollution (LBSP) and has been interested in broadening the discussion of coral reef protection to include the management of the watersheds that contribute pollutant loads to the coral reef ecosystem. In this context, it is important to consider that the coral reef ecosystem is inclusive of the coral reefs themselves, as well as the variety of habitats that support the fish and other marine and estuarine organisms that are interdependent upon the coral. NOAA contracted with the Horsley Witten Group, Inc. (HW) to delineate the land areas contributing water to each of the nine inlets along the southeast Florida coastline that discharge in the vicinity of the coral reef tract, and to then compile and organize a significant body of information about LBSP in southeast Florida within the framework of the nine Inlet Contributing Areas (ICAs). This work is compiled in the document Watershed Scale Planning to Reduce Land-Based Sources of Pollution (LBSP) for the Protection of Coral Reefs in Southeast Florida, An Overview and Data Gap Assessment (January, 2015) (The LBSP Report), is available through NOAAs Coral Reef Information System. NOAA then contracted with HW to facilitate a workshop among SEFCRI representatives and related practitioners to present the document and identify a geographic focus area for next steps. This meeting summary report presents a summary of the discussions and outcomes of that meeting held in West Palm Beach, FL, April 17, 2015."

FY2014 CRCP Project ID: 807; Project Title: Coordinating Watershed Scale Planning and LBSP Reduction for the Southeast Florida Reef Tract and Back Reef Systems; Principal Investigator: Rob Ferguson