MONITORING

The three banks of the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary are monitored on an annual basis as part of a long term monitoring program.

Additional monitoring efforts are also undertaken in response to significant events in and around the sanctuary. These include:

Coral Bleaching
- Remote Sensing through NOAA Coral Reef Watch

Coral Disease

Coral Spawning

Hurricane Rita

Long Term Monitoring:
East and West Flower Garden Banks

The coral reefs of the East and West Banks are monitored under a contract administered by NOAA and the Minerals Management Service (MMS). The current contractors are: PBS&J, Geo-Marine, Inc., and Dauphin Island Marine Lab. Primary Investigators on the contract are Drs. Bill Precht, Ken Deslarzes, Rich Aronson and Les Kaufman.

The earliest quantitative data on coral and other invertebrate cover at the Flower Garden Banks was collected in 1972 in 27 quadrants, each measuring approximately 12 square meters (Bright and Pequegnat, 1974). The first regularly collected data on benthic communities occurred in 1978 (Viada, 1980) and continued through 1983 (CSA, 1985). This work was prompted by the drilling activities of Mobil Exploration and Producing U.S., Inc., within 1.7 km of the coral reefs on the East Flower Garden Bank. Minerals Management Service (MMS) required that industry sponsor the monitoring program as well as pre- and post-drilling surveys to evaluate the fate and effects of their discharges on the sensitive biological assemblages inhabiting the nearby banks.

MMS required operators to conduct regular monitoring of the fate of produced water discharges. This involved chemical analysis of sediments taken from the vicinity of the platforms but did not involve biological collections from either of the banks. Following the completion of the study by CSA for Mobil in 1983 and because no new activity was proposed, no further benthic monitoring was conducted at the Flower Garden Banks for nearly 6 years.

In consultation with academia and industry, MMS developed a comprehensive benthic monitoring program for the Flower Garden Banks in the late 1980's. Between 1988 and 1992 they issued a contract for the first three years of work on this Long Term Monitoring program. This program has remained in place, with some modifications, ever since.

Long Term Monitoring: Stetson Bank

A diver positions a camera mounted on a metal T-frame at one of the monitoring pins at Stetson Bank. Photo: Joyce & Frank Burek

Stetson Bank Long Term Monitoring began in 1993. Annual monitoring expeditions have been conducted by sanctuary staff and volunteers since that time.

The Gulf Reef Environmental Action Team (GREAT) initiated and installed the original repetitive photostations, and conducted the first six data collection cruises. Originally, 75 photostations were installed. During the 2004 data collection effort, 46 stations were photographed. Limited analysis has been conducted due to constraints on staff time and lack of funding for the project.