Abstract

The Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary is a 9,850 km2 marine protected area managed by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the State of Florida. A comprehensive management plan was implemented in 1997 to protect and conserve marine resources of the Florida Keys, which include mangrove, seagrass, and coral reef habitats and their associated communities. One innovative aspect of the management plan is the creation of a network of 23 fully protected zones (marine reserves; 24 as of July 2001) that are designed to protect biodiversity and sensitive habitats, reduce user conflicts, and lessen concentrated impacts to marine organisms at heavily used reefs. An ongoing monitoring program is designed to determine effects of no-take protection on heavily exploited fishes and invertebrates, benthic communities, and human activities. Data on the abundance and size offish, spiny lobster, and queen conch; algal cover; coral cover, diversity, and recruitment; and zone usage are collected from fully protected zones and adjacent reference sites. Preliminary reports indicate increases in the number and size of certain heavily exploited species such as spiny lobster within the fully protected zones. Slower-growing benthic species such as comIs and sponges have not shown significant changes within protected areas, possibly because of the short period since implementation of the zoning plan (four years).

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