CREMP

Abstract:

The primary goal of the Coral Reef Evaluation and Monitoring Project (CREMP) is to measure the status and trends of these communities to assist managers in understanding, protecting, and restoring the living marine resources of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. Data from the project will be used to determine (1) overall net increase or decrease in stony coral percent cover and stony coral species richness, (2) overall net change in measurable reef community parameters, (3) changes observed in individual reef communities with no overall change on a landscape scale (decreases in one location balanced by increases elsewhere) or changes that are linked to specific regions of the landscape. Each of these potential mechanisms of change will result in different spatial patterns of change. A Sanctuary-wide, rather than a single-location survey, is necessary to detect ecosystem change.

Purpose:

This Sanctuary-wide project is documenting the status of reef habitats at 40 reef sites located within 5 of the 9 EPA Water Quality Segments in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. Over the duration of the project, the randomly located reefs in this project may show no net decline. Alternatively, some or all the reefs may show a net decline. Data for each successive sampling year will be compared with prior year's data to obtain a broader understanding of the dynamics of the FKNMS coral reef system. As the coral reef monitoring is integrated with the seagrass and water quality programs, the results can be used to focus research on determining causality and can be used to inform and evaluate management decisions. The Coral Reef/ Hardbottom Monitoring Project provides the first real opportunity in the Florida Keys to address these questions at the spatial scales required to detect large-scale patterns and discriminate between hypotheses.
CREMP started in 1996 with 160 stations at 40 sites.  In 2000/2001 a number of stations were dropped from the study, and several stations were dropped in subsequent years (this includes all of the hardbottom (HB) sites).  This was done based on some statistical analysis that I don’t really know much about.  Each site was reduced to between 2 and 4 stations. From 2001 to 2010 the data are reported using the 97 stations that were sampled during every year of that time period.  Starting in 2011 reporting is done for 148 stations.  This includes the original 136 stations plus the 12 patch reefs stations that were added.

Supplemental_Information:

Prior to July 1, 2004, the Fish and Wildlife Research Institute (FWRI) was known as the Florida Marine Research Institute (FMRI). The institute name has not been changed in historical data sets or references to work completed by the Florida Marine Research Institute. The institute name has been changed in references to ongoing research, new research, and contact information.

Currentness_Reference:

ground condition

Entity_and_Attribute_Overview:

Benthic type values are a percent composition of the total survey area.

Ordering_Instructions:

Contact GIS Librarian by e-mail, telephone, or letter explaining which products are needed and providing a brief description of how the products will be used. Also, provide name and address of the person or organization requesting the products.