Bernardo Vargas-Angel

Culebra Sediment Trap Monitoring Work Plan

2024

NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program; Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources

"This monitoring work plan is a key component of Culebra's Land-based Sources of Pollution (LBSP) Ridge to Reef Monitoring Program aimed at providing standardized guidelines and methods to monitor changes in land-based pollutant loads, nearshore land-based pollutant exposure, and seagrass habitat responses across the island. These monitoring activities are spatially and temporally coordinated and represent the basis of Culebra's Integrated LBSP Monitoring and Evaluation Framework to successfully evaluate progress toward achieving NOAA's LBSP management goals and outcomes on Culebra. This work plan outlines a sediment trap monitoring program to evaluate change in land-based sources of pollution (LBSP) exposure-terrigenous sedimentation-in the nearshore coastal environment over time, and it is aligned with NOAA LBSP management goals, outcomes, and evaluation questions. This sediment trap monitoring program was also designed to: 1. Collect long-term data of sediment accumulation, composition, and distribution across the nearshore environment in Culebra. 2. Assess changes in terrigenous sediment fluxes at nearshore fixed monitoring stations adjacent to both managed and unmanaged coastal watersheds to evaluate the performance of implemented LBSP best management practices (BMPs). 3. Conduct outreach activities to inform and to engage both local community, federal, and Puerto Rican government officials in ongoing natural resource management, restoration, and conservation efforts on Culebra."

Puerto Rico, Culebra, watershed, land-based sources of pollution, LBSP, coral reef, sedimentation, sediment trap, nearshore, teerrigenous sediment fluxes

NMFS

OHC

FY2024 CRCP Project ID 30033; Project Title: Reducing LBSP threats from unpaved roads on Culebra Island; Principal Investigator: Lisa Vandiver