Burdick, D.

Comprehensive long-term coral reef monitoring at permanent sites on Guam

2014

Mangilao, Guam

University of Guam

50

End-of-Grant Report, October 1, 2011 - September 30, 2014

"The Comprehensive Long-term Monitoring at Permanent Sites in Guam project involves the regular collection of data for a suite of coral reef ecosystem health parameters at several high priority reef sites around the island. While Guams reefs have been the subject of numerous studies and the NOAA Coral Reef Ecosystem Divisions Reef Assessment and Monitoring program collects data from sites around the island on a triennial basis, until the establishment of this program there has not been a continuous coral reef monitoring program on Guam that comprehensively addresses benthic habitat, water quality, and associated biological communities at high priority reef areas. This lack of baseline information has limited managers ability to evaluate natural and anthropogenic impacts to Guams reefs and to gauge the effectiveness of management activities at the scale of individual sites. In order to address this major gap, the Government of Guam natural resource agencies, with the assistance of the University of Guam Marine Laboratory (UOGML) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrations Pacific Islands Regional Office (NOAA PIRO), developed a long term monitoring strategy aimed at addressing the management needs of local resource agencies and the objectives set by the National Coral Reef Ecosystem Monitoring Program (NCREMP). As part of the project, data are collected on a regular basis by field biologists from the UOGML and NOAA PIRO, with occasional assistance by staff from the Guam Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Agricultures Division of Aquatic and Wildlife Resources. The monitoring team collects data for a number of important parameters related to ecosystem health; many of these parameters are indicators of stressors, and significant changes in these parameters may raise concern and possibly trigger management actions. Data collected for these indicators also provide important information about the resilience of high priority reef areas around Guam. Monitoring these parameters also allows resource managers to evaluate the effectiveness of specific management strategies at the individual site level, and inform the development of new management actions. This site-based approach to coral reef monitoring is complementary to the site- or watershed-based approach to coral reef management utilized on Guam and in many other jurisdictions, wherein an array of management actions are focused on addressing all or most key sources of coral reef stress within a defined, often relatively small area, rather than implementing projects at various sites across a jurisdiction. A large amount of baseline data for a number of key ecosystem health parameters is now available for several high priority reef areas that are currently the focus of a number of management actions aimed at improving reef health. Subsequent data collection has occurred at some of these reef areas, and with continued data collection, including the incorporation of water quality monitoring, critical information will be provided to managers about the effectiveness of management efforts, and will alert managers to emerging threats that may not otherwise be detected."

FY2011 CRCP Project 20645; Project Title: O095 Domestic Coral Reef Conservation Grant Programs; Principal Investigator: Jenny Waddell ~ FY2011 CRCP grant NA11NOS4820007

NOS/Office for Coastal Management (OCM)

NA11NOS4820007