Abstract

Since 2007, we have been surveying historical and reported reef fish spawning aggregations (FSAs) in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary (FKNMS). Over the six years we have documented geomorphologies common among several species-specific FSA sites. Using coordinated fishery acoustic and diver visual surveys, we have also found significant elevated densities of fish at some of the reported sites, including elevated densities of black grouper and cubera snapper, several hundred permit to over 2000 gray snappers exhibiting behaviors and coloration consistent with spawning, and have confirmed over several years the absence of fish from other historical FSAs (Table 1, Figure 1). While aggregations have been found, spawning has yet to be observed at any aggregation. Since 2012, we implemented a new wide-swath fishery multibeam sonar system that has increased the search volume for fish aggregations by orders of magnitude while allowing us to map seafloor topography at the FSA sites (Figure 2). We continue to provide updates on this research effort to researchers and advisors to the FKNMS management process, with specific comments on the importance of these data to regulatory review processes for the Sanctuary.

PDF Preview