Water Connects the Southeast Florida Coral Reef Ecosystem

1. Water Connects the Southeast Florida Coral Reef Ecosystem Kurtis Gregg, M.S. Florida Coral Reef Fishery Ecologist ECS-Federal, Inc on contract to NOAA Fisheries Service Habitat Conservation Division

2. The Southeast Florida Coral Reef Tract The southeast Florida coral reef tract is approximately 110 miles long and generally varies from less than 1 to 3 miles from shore off Martin Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties. Over 6 million people live, work and play here, and another 25 million visitors enjoy the beaches, waterways, and reefs of southeast Florida each year.

3. The Coral Reef Ecosystem of Southeast Florida • Credit: Mares 2012

4. Interconnected Habitats in the Southeast Florida Coral Reef Ecosystem • Sustainable coral reef ecosystems need functional back-reef habitats (e.g. seagrass, mangroves, hardbottom, unconsolidated sediments, and coastal inlets) to provide access, nursery, shelter, cover and foraging opportunities for reef fish, prey and the other organisms in the coral reef ecosystem. • These habitats are interconnected by reef fish and prey life history, and affected by tidal water exchange, freshwater flows, submarine groundwater discharge and human activities.

5. Fisheries Habitat Connections • Photo: Google Earth 2013

6. Southeast Florida Coastal Ocean Dynamics • Very simple-water leaves the inlets and goes north…Right? • Not really!

7. The Florida Current interacts with wind and tides to create a dynamic coastal ocean environment

8. Eddies change the direction and speed of nearshore coastal currents

9. Upwelling results in unusual conditions on southeast Florida reefs • Upwelling is a natural occurrence that brings nutrient rich water to the Florida reef tract • In our region, upwelling is most frequently observed in the summer (July and August) off St. Lucie Inlet, but occurs along the entire southeast Florida reef tract.

10. Water and Southeast Florida Coral Reefs • Southeast Florida coral reefs evolved in an environment that provided clean (low nutrient concentrations), clear water with low stormwater runoff to the ocean. • Credit: Dave Gilliam, Nova Southeastern University

11. Nutrient Cycling • Water on the Florida reef tract was usually low in nutrient concentrations, so plants and animals in the coral reef ecosystem developed intricate strategies to cycle limiting nutrients to maximize their productivity.

12. Land Use Affects LBSP • Water picks up and carries • nutrients and other compounds • as it flows over land. • What water picks up changes • in composition and quantity • depending on the type • of land use.

13. Typical Pathways for Pollutants in a Coastal Ecosystem • Credit: Hans Paerl

14. Stormwater management in Southeast Florida • Stormwater is routed through southeast Florida canals before being discharged to estuarine waters, like Lake Worth Lagoon. • Photo: Google Earth 2013

15. Wastewater Management in Southeast Florida • The four methods of municipal wastewatereffluent disposal in southeast Florida include: • surface discharges • ocean outfalls • deep well injection • reuse • Photo: Palm Beach Post 2010 • Graphic: USGS 2013

16. Freshwater inflows to the Lake Worth Lagoon • 1Data from Palm Beach County Environmental Resource Management. 1990. Lake Worth Lagoon: Natural resources inventory and resource enhancement study. 226pp • 2Sewage treatment plants which no longer discharge into the lagoon.

17. Septic Systems • Septic systems can adversely affect ground water quality (i.e. the Biscayne Aquifer) and surface waters with human pathogens (bacteria and viruses) and high nutrient levels.

18. Nutrient Pollution in Coastal Waters of Southeast Florida Flux of nutrients from four treated-wastewater outfalls and the Boynton Inlet • From Carsey and others 2012. Boynton Inlet 48-Hour Sampling Intensives: June and September 2007. 43pp

19. Southeast Florida Inlet Contributing Areas To understand how water and pollution loads move in southeast Florida, Inlet Contributing Areas (ICA) are being delineated by a contractor with guidance from NOAA Fisheries and South Florida Water Management District. Extensive watershed modifications have occurred in Florida for flood control, human use and more recently, environmental restoration. How water moves once it has “gone to tide”, i.e. discharged to the Intracoastal Waterway, is less well known. ICA’s were delineated in the “Normal” condition. Direction and flow of water are different during flood and water supply (drought) conditions.

20. Stressors and Pollutants • What is a stressor? • A stressor is any kind of input, process or activity that adversely affects the functioning of an ecosystem over time. Stressors can be naturally occurring, e.g. hurricanes, or can be related to human activities. • What is a pollutant? • Pollutants are stressors that include man-made substances (e.g. biocides, pharmaceuticals, sun screen, perfume) or can be constituents already present in nature that are elevated by human actions (e.g., nutrients, hydrocarbons, metals and sediments.

21. Land-based Pollutants Affecting Southeast Florida Fisheries Habitats • Nutrients (Nitrogen and Phosphorus) • Salinity (especially rapid changes) • Turbidity • Sedimentation • Biocides • Heavy metals • Hydrocarbons and other organic compounds • Pharmaceuticals and personal care products

22. Sources of LBSP Source Nutrients Sediments Turbidity Biocides Metals Hydrocarbons Pharmaceuticals • From Gregg 2013. Literature review and synthesis of LBSP affecting essential fish habitat in southeast Florida. 55pp

23. Land-based Pollutants affecting Southeast Florida coastal waters • Excessive nitrogen and phosphorus can result in adverse changes to estuarine and marine ecosystems. Increases in nutrients have been shown to promote the growth of macroalgae and cyanobacteria that can smother benthic animals; and phytoplankton blooms that reduce light and dissolved oxygen levels when the phytoplankton die off. • Credit: Dave Gilliam Nova Southeastern University • Credit: Karl Havens, Florida Sea Grant

24. Salinity • Changes in salinity can stress or kill important plants (e.g. seagrass) and animals (e.g. oysters and sponges) in southeast Florida estuaries. While the St. Lucie River estuary was in the news last summer, many other southeast Florida estuaries also faced similar impacts from low salinity. • Credit: Florida Oceanographic Society

25. Sediment and Turbidity • Sedimentationcan kill filter feeding animals like corals, sponges and oysters by smothering, burial or inhibiting feeding and can adversely affect seagrass and other estuarine habitats by direct burial. • Turbidity decreases light penetration and reduces photosynthetic production by seagrass, algae and coral zooxanthellae in coastal waters. • Credit: NOAA Fisheries Service • Credit: Florida Department of Environmental Protection

26. Land-based Pollutants Affecting Southeast Florida Coastal Waters • Biocides and their degradation compounds can be highly toxic to corals, crustaceans, and other benthic animals at very low concentrations • Credit: Wikipedia 2013 Credit: Sailing Buzzards Bay http://sailingbuzzardsbay.frankgerry.com/?p=118

27. Land-Based Pollutants affecting Southeast Florida • Organic (Oil) pollution usuallyoccurs when hydrocarbons are released into the environment from stormwater runoff or oil spills. • Petroleum products usually remain near the water surface and may not contact reefs or other sub-tidal habitats; however, these compounds may still affect developing larvae that float at the surface. • Credit: NY Daily News 2010

28. Land-Based Pollutants affecting Southeast Florida • Intertidal oyster and seagrass habitats are particularly vulnerable to organic pollution. • Credit: NOAA Fisheries • Credit: NOAA Fisheries

29. Land-Based Pollutants affecting Southeast Florida • Heavy metals are known to kill or damage marine animals such as corals, mollusks (oysters, clams, conch), and crustaceans (lobsters, crabs, shrimp). • Credit: US EPA Mercury Report 1998

30. Land-Based Pollutants affecting Southeast Florida • Pharmaceuticals (medications and hormones) and Personal care products, (e.g., lotions, fragrances, insect repellent), end up in estuarine and marine waters of southeast Florida. • These pollutants are not removed by secondary water treatment, but can be removed by advanced treatment of wastewater. • Credit: Alejandro Ramirez, Baylor University • http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2010/04/pollution/fish-pharm

31. Key Recommendations • Reduce nutrient loading from all human-induced sources and pathways, including surface water management, septic systems and ocean outfall discharge, to improve conditions for estuarine and marine habitats. • • Support implementation of numeric nutrient water quality criteria for nitrogen and phosphorus that are in the process of being developed by the state of Florida • • Support construction of additional water storage reservoirs, stormwater treatment areas , flow equalization basins, and use of appropriate technologies to reduce nutrient levels before release of water to southeast Florida estuaries and to modulate salinity changes in those estuaries. • • Modify beach nourishment activities to minimize sedimentation and turbidity impacts to nearshore hardbottom, worm reef, and other marine habitats. • Use an ecosystem-based fisheries habitat perspective to inform current water quality improvement planning and management activities in southeast Florida to reduce LBSP impacts to estuarine and marine EFH. The ecosystem based fisheries management approach considers the physical, chemical and biological components and connections between species and between habitats.

32. Questions? • Kurtis.Gregg@noaa.gov