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the state of the
of the U.S. Virgin Islands
What are Virgin Islands coral reefs like today?
PHOTO: J E FF M ILLE R
A 10-year-old child snorkeling on the reefs in
the USVI today would find a very pretty scene.
But the child’s grandfather would have seen a
very different reef when he was a child. Even
someone who snorkeled on the reefs in the
1970s and 1980s and then returned today
would be shocked by the changes and the
degraded condition of the reefs.
Reefs closer to shore and in shallower water
have changed the most. These are the ones most
affected by storm seas, by runoff of sediment
from land, and by anchor damage. More broken
branches and rubble are found on the reefs from
storms, anchors, and boats running aground.
The water surrounding the reefs is not as clear as
it used to be, either, because more and more
sediment from construction sites, roads, and
driveways is washing into the ocean when it
rains. The bays stay turbid and stirred up for
longer than they used to.
A few fish species have vanished or are very rare,
and fishes of many species are generally smaller.
Goliath and Nassau groupers; midnight, blue,
and rainbow parrotfish; hogfish and spadefish,
numerous even 30 years ago, are now seldom or
never seen. Fewer long-spined black sea urchins
graze on the algae, though their numbers are
increasing in very shallow zones. There seem to
be fewer colorful banded coral shrimp, feather
dusters, and other reef animals.
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Algae grows over dead coral. On most coral reefs in the
USVI, living coral covers only about 20 percent of the bottom;
algae is more abundant.
BELOW:
More coral diseases are seen on the reefs, too, and
they affect more of the colonies. Diseases are found
even on corals 90 feet deep. White plague is the most
severe; it affects 18 coral species, including star coral,
the most important reef-builder on the reefs in moderate depths. The tops of many of the star corals are
dead and covered with algae.
No large, reef-building coral has taken the place of the
elkhorn corals that dominated the shallowest zones until
about 20 to 25 years ago, when over 90 percent of them
were killed by disease and hurricanes. Because elkhorn
coral has collapsed in many places, the reef is physically
less complex—with fewer holes, nooks, and crevices to
shelter fish, lobsters, sea urchins, and other animals.
Some shallow reefs have new elkhorn colonies. But very
few locations exhibit dense patches of large colonies
with intertwining branches like those found on the
most impressive reefs in the 1970s.
The most vibrant reefs—those with the most fish,
the most actively growing corals, and the best water
clarity—are usually found far from shore and where
currents are strongest, such as Flat Cay off St. Thomas,
Johnson’s Reef off St. John, and Buck Island Reef off
St. Croix. Vibrant reefs are also found in deep water—
150 feet or more—on or near the shelf edge. The
Marine Conservation District south of St. Thomas,
for example, contains extensive coral reefs with
nearly 100 percent live coral cover.
PHOTO: CAROLI N E ROG E R S
On most reefs, living coral covers less than 20 percent
of the bottom and algae are more abundant. Yet about
25 years ago, living coral cover on several reefs was
over 40 percent. Today, small colonies of mustard
coral (Porites astreoides) and common brain coral
(Diploria strigosa) are more numerous than are the
small individuals of the major reef-building corals,
star coral (Montastraea annularis) and elkhorn coral
(Acropora palmata).
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“Twenty years ago, you could always see sharks and groupers.
Now groupers are totally fished out, and the balance of the
ecosystem is gone. ”
O F
jack randall
As ichthyologists—or fish scientists—go, John E. (Jack)
Randall is at the top; he is well known and well respected.
He was one of the first scientists to research coral reef fish
and habitat in the U.S. Virgin Islands, and published a book
entitled Caribbean Reef Fishes in 1968. He has since studied
coral reefs all over the world, writing books such as Guide to
Hawaiian Reef Fishes, Fishes of the Great Barrier Reef
and Coral Sea, and Sharks of Arabia.
Just after President Eisenhower authorized the creation
of Virgin Islands National Park in 1956, the Park Service
asked Jack Randall if he would direct a survey of St. John’s
marine life. Jack agreed, and he, along with a team of
scientists—including his wife Helen—created the first-ever
marine habitat maps of the island. While they were in the
Virgin Islands, the Randalls carried out and published
research on numerous coral reef species, including parrotfishes, queen conch, and the sea urchin Diadema.
PHOTO: AR MAN DO J E N I K
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Then, the Park superintendent asked Jack to go to Buck
Island off St. Croix and to shoot some film of the marine
life there. “At first, I wasn’t terribly interested,” he said, “but
I went, and I made a film of nesting birds and turtles and
lots of underwater life. Well, not too long thereafter, President
Kennedy proclaimed Buck Island a national monument,
and they said that the film helped to persuade him.”
Jack Randall hasn’t been back to
the Virgin Islands for many years,
but he has vivid memories of what
it was like underwater. “When I
was in the Virgin Islands in the
late 1950s and early ’60s, the reefs
were beautiful—there wasn’t a
trace of bleaching. There were still
a lot of top predators visible, but
even so, I noticed that some of the fish were getting fished
out. Queen triggerfish were getting hard to find, as were
larger grunts. I could see the effect of overfishing, even in
the few years that I was there.”
“Coral reef ecosystems have changed dramatically since I
first began studying reef fishes. Twenty years ago, you could
always see sharks and groupers. Now, groupers are totally
fished out, and the balance of the ecosystem is gone.”
Is he optimistic that humans can save coral reefs? Or has
the damage gone too far? “Fishermen are going to keep
fishing until it’s gone. You can’t get the idea of marine
reserves across; they just shout you down. The only saving
thing may be mercury—the amount of mercury in fish may
be the only thing that keeps us from fishing down to the
last fish.”
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Coral Reef Research in the U.S. Virgin Islands Undersea
research in the U.S. Virgin Islands—beginning in the late 1950s—
has contributed much to our understanding of coral reef
ecosystems worldwide.
CORAL REEF RESEARCH, THE EARLY DAYS
In 1956 Laurance Rockefeller gave the U.S. National
Park Service a generous gift of 5,000 acres of land on
the island of St. John. In August of 1956, that land
became the Virgin Islands National Park, when
President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the bill
officially designating the national park.
Two years later, the Park Service invited fish scientist
John E. (Jack) Randall to help survey marine life in
the area. From 1958 through 1961, Jack, his wife Helen
Randall, Herman Kumpf, and students and professors
from University of Miami and elsewhere made over
250 collections of ocean life around St. John. They also
produced the very first maps of the island’s marine
environments.
The Randalls’ species collections, scientific papers,
extensive survey of reef fish food habits, and maps
were not only some of the very first scientific work
carried out in the islands, they influenced many subsequent studies of Virgin Islands marine life. In addition, the film footage that Jack Randall shot of the
reefs off Buck Island is said to have influenced
President John F. Kennedy in his decision to declare
Buck Island and its reefs a national monument.
TOP RIGHT: An aerial shot of Buck Island. After viewing a film by
Jack Randall of Buck Island’s marine life, President Kennedy
designated Buck Island Reef National Monument.
LOWER RIGHT: Diver uses video monitoring technique to note
changes in the reef.
PHOTO: ROB WAARA
Just as the moon was the goal in the early days of
space exploration, Virgin Islands coral reefs attracted
many early, seminal underwater scientific expeditions.
Today, research programs in the islands cover the full
spectrum of marine science. Local and national
agencies and organizations are collaborating to
investigate a wide variety of issues vital to the health
of coral reefs, including environmental causes behind
coral bleaching, the behavior of reef fishes and other
reef inhabitants, and the impacts of runoff and
sediment from land.
PHOTO: NATIONAL PAR K SE RVICE
THE STATE OF THE REEFS
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UNDERSEA SATURATION DIVING HABITATS IN THE VIRGIN ISLANDS
In 1969, the first of these expeditions, Tektite I, allowed
four scientists to live at the bottom of Lameshur Bay,
off St. John, for 60 days. The aquanauts observed the
reef through dives and from inside the underwater
habitat itself. During a Tektite II mission in 1970, a
team of five women scientists lived in the habitat.
Over two weeks, aquanaut Sylvia Earle logged 86 hours
in the water, which would have taken two months
using surface diving. Aquanauts could come and go
freely into the ocean ecosystem through a “wet room,”
which had a tunnel and stairs leading to the outside.
Scientists did not return to the surface after diving,
but rather to the underwater habitat. This permitted
them to increase their diving time by as much as
10 times over traditional surface diving techniques.
Instead of decompressing near the end of each dive,
aquanauts would decompress inside the habitat over
17 hours at the end of their mission.
The U.S. Navy, the Department of the Interior, and
the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
(NASA) sponsored the scientific project. They chose
the Lameshur Bay site not only because of its location
within Virgin Islands National Park, but also because
of its diversity of habitats—coral reefs, seagrass beds,
PHOTO: NATIONAL UNDERSEA RESEARCH PROGRAM
Beginning in the late 1960s, local coral reefs were the
subject of hundreds of expeditions carried out in undersea “habitats.” These habitats were really pressurized
laboratories and living quarters combined, enabling
scientists to spend much longer periods of time studying coral reefs, seagrass beds, and algal plains than
surface diving allowed.
ABOVE: Divers swim near the Tektite habitat in Lameshur Bay.
Because they stayed in the habitat and did not return to the
surface after each dive, divers could spend more time underwater
and decompress all at once near the end of their missions.
and algal plain. NASA was interested in how living in a
confined area for extended periods of time affected
the aquanauts, which had obvious implications for
space exploration. The name “Tektite” in fact comes
from the glassy meteorites that are often found on
the ocean floor.
Tektite scientists mapped the underwater topography
of Lameshur Bay, studied the migration patterns of
plankton, and observed the habits of reef fishes,
conchs, and lobsters.
From 1977 through 1985, NOAA deployed another
underwater habitat, Hydrolab, in Salt River Canyon
off St. Croix. Although it accommodated only four
scientists at a time, Hydrolab housed a total of 352
aquanauts from over 120 scientific groups. Hydrolab
scientists were among the first to notice the massive
die-off of Diadema sea urchins in 1983, which spread
throughout the Caribbean.
The Aquarius undersea laboratory followed on the
heels of Hydrolab in 1987. Sponsored by NOAA’s
National Undersea Research Program, Aquarius was
also deployed in the waters of Salt River Canyon. There,
it housed 13 scientific missions, enabling aquanauts
to learn more about deep reef ecology, geology, and
oceanography.
INCREASING KNOWLEDGE THROUGH
COOPERATION
Much of our baseline information on coral reefs in
the USVI comes from studies carried out from 1983
through 1986 by members of the Virgin Islands
Resource Management Cooperative (VIRMC). VIRMC
was established in 1982 by public and private institutions in the U.S. Virgin Islands, British Virgin Islands,
and Puerto Rico. Under the leadership of the Virgin
Islands National Park, VIRMC originally included 13
cooperating institutions, which recognized the need
for a collaborative approach in managing natural
resources in the Virgin Islands. In 1983 VIRMC
launched an ambitious five-year, half-million-dollar
research program financed by the U.S. National Park
Service. Thirty-three investigators from nine VIRMCaffiliated institutions carried out 30 research studies,
largely focused on the marine resources of the U.S.
and British Virgin Islands. The resulting technical
reports totaled over 2,300 pages and constitute one
of the most intensive data collection efforts ever carried
out in a protected area in the Eastern Caribbean.
The Island Resources Foundation acted as the local
contracting agent for the project.
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“We saw quite a few Nassau groupers and
really big snappers, both of which are rare today.
Now the only robust species you see under water are divers.”
P O I N T
O F
sylvia earle
“At the time of Tektite II,” Earle says, “sea and space were
closely connected. Astronauts were on the moon in 1969,
and there was a lot of enthusiasm about the oceans.
President Kennedy himself said, ‘We know more about the
back side of the moon than we do about the ocean bottom.’
NASA supported the Tektite mission because they felt it
could teach important lessons about space exploration.”
When Sylvia returned from the Tektite mission, she was
invited to address Congress on what she had learned. Today,
few lawmakers or citizens are paying much attention to ocean
exploration. “We’ve forgotten about the oceans,” says Earle.
PHOTO ABOVE: NATIONAL UNDERSEA RESEARCH PROGRAM / NATIONAL PARK SERVICE.
What did she learn from her two weeks on the bottom of
Lameshur Bay? “I really got to know fish as something more
than just seafood on a plate with drawn butter. I got to know
fish as individuals. I would get up early, just to see which fish
got up when. I watched a group of five angelfish; I watched
parrotfish spinning their sleeping bags; and at night, I
watched squirrelfish. I followed their behavior, and I could
do so because I was there all the time.”
For the Tektite mission, “The project leaders chose a beautiful
pristine reef some 600 feet offshore. The reef showed no
evidence of disease. We saw quite a few Nassau groupers
and really big snappers, both of which are rare today. Now
the only robust species you see under water are divers.”
Does she believe that coral reefs can come back? “Well, even
though half have disappeared over the past 50 years, the
good news is that 50 percent are in good shape,” says Earle.
“The ocean is resilient, so if we turn off all the bad things
we’re putting into it, the ocean can heal. Striped bass were
on the edge, and then we stopped killing them and they came
back. We stopped whaling, and we protected an important
gray whale nursery in Baja California, and the gray whales are
doing well. We’ve come to understand that to save ducks and
geese, we have to protect wetlands and flyways. If we’re going
to save fish and ocean life, we’ve got to start protecting
undersea habitats, too.”
PHOTO: J EFF M ILLE R
Sylvia Earle was captain
of one of the Tektite II
missions carried out in
Lameshur Bay off St.
John in 1970. Today,
she is among the world’s
best-known ocean
scientists and explorers. A former chief scientist of the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and
current National Geographic explorer-in-residence, she has
clocked more than 6,000 hours under water and holds the
world record for the deepest solo dive at 1,250 feet. In 1998,
Time magazine named her "Hero for the Planet.”
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T H E
R E E F S
What We’re Learning from USVI Reefs Because of their coral reef
ecosystems, the U.S. Virgin Islands have long been an important
location for scientific research. The islands’ increasing population
and coastal development have also made them important case
studies for how human activities are affecting the world’s coral
reefs and the ocean life that depends on them.
The establishment of Virgin Islands Coral Reef
National Monument and the expansion of the Buck
Island Reef National Monument in 2001 were major
events in coral reef conservation and management.
Yet these monuments would not exist today if it were
not for the long-term research performed in the USVI
documenting the degradation of the marine habitats
and loss of fish species. Such declines have even been
documented in marine protected areas such as the
national parks, which have been in place for 40 years.
The decision to prohibit anchoring and fishing in
these new areas is a major step towards possible
recovery and replenishment of USVI reef systems.
WHITE PLAGUE AT TEKTITE REEF
Doctors perform meticulous tests to determine what
makes a person ill and what can be done about it. Is it
bacterial infection that antibiotics can cure? Is it a
virus that will run its course with fluids and rest?
PHOTO: E R I N N M U LLE R
With the exception of Jamaica and Panama, the
USVI has the longest data sets and longest history
of ongoing research in the Caribbean. Monitoring of
coral reefs in the Virgin Islands National Park began
in the 1970s and ’80s, and these efforts have provided
some of the best continuous data on coral reefs,
representing nearly 20 years of research and monitoring. Long-term projects began at Yawzi Reef in Great
Lameshur Bay in 1989 and Newfound Bay in 1990.
Video monitoring began in 1999 at these sites and at
Haulover Bay, and more recently, at Mennebeck Bay.
These projects have contributed a great deal to our
understanding of how hurricanes and overfishing
affect coral reefs, and how the increase in coral
diseases has affected the health of coral reef ecosystems. Scientists have also documented declines
in both live coral cover and fish populations around
St. John.
BELOW: White pox is the most serious disease affecting
elkhorn corals in the USVI today.
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LEFT: White band disease has also caused serious declines in
elkhorn coral in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
PHOTO: CAROLI NE ROG E R S
Understanding diseases in coral reefs is much more
difficult. Even when we can determine what the disease
is, we can’t cure it. Yet understanding what happens
after a coral becomes diseased, and how coral reefs
are affected by disease overall, is vital to coral reef
management and conservation.
Scientists with the National Park Service in St. John have
been monitoring the effects of white plague at Tektite
Reef, one of the most beautiful reefs in the Virgin
Islands. This disease affects 18 types of corals and
attacks the primary reef-building species, small star coral
(Montastraea annularis) very aggressively. Because it
targets the most abundant, primary reef-building coral—
which grows slowly and produces few new colonies
to replace the ones that have been lost—white plague
represents a significant threat to reefs in the Virgin
Islands and other areas of the Caribbean. Since
December 1997, these scientists have observed loss of
live coral from white plague at Tektite Reef every month.
The rate of growth for small star coral is about threeeighths of an inch per year in shallow water, and less
in deeper water. White plague can advance across a
colony, killing the coral at a rate of inches to tens of
inches per month. Once the plague has killed the coral,
macroalgae, or seaweeds, typically grow over the dead
area. After several years, new corals may settle and
begin to grow over the area, but they are usually not a
major reef-builder species such as the small star coral.
To date, scientists have not observed any healing over
portions of colonies killed by disease.
CAN ELKHORN CORAL RECOVER?
Until the 1970s, elkhorn corals were the primary reef
builders in the Virgin Islands. Then, white band disease
and storms caused extensive declines. At Buck Island
Reef National Monument, where some of the largest
elkhorn stands had been, live coral cover fell by 80
percent over two decades. In 1979, Hurricane David
and Tropical Storm Frederic decimated elkhorn coral
throughout the islands. Hurricanes Hugo in 1989 and
Marilyn in 1995 caused further damage. Because
elkhorn corals grow in very shallow water, they are very
vulnerable to damage from hurricanes, snorkelers, and
boats. In April 2002, a large ferryboat ran aground on
Johnson’s Reef in Virgin Islands National Park, causing
extensive damage to the elkhorn there. Today, throughout the Caribbean and Western Atlantic, elkhorn coral
has been reduced to less than 10 percent of its former
abundance.
Scientists and volunteers from the U.S. Geological
Survey, the National Park Service, the University of the
Virgin Islands, and The Ocean Conservancy are working
together on a new research project on elkhorn and
staghorn corals in Virgin Islands National Park, Buck
Island Reef National Monument, and Biscayne National
Park in Florida. For most people, “endangered species”
conjures images of pandas and tigers—animals that
are more charismatic than hard, slimy corals. Yet both
elkhorn and staghorn corals are now being considered
for the U.S. Endangered Species List because of their
dramatic decline from disease and storms in the last
15 to 25 years. No corals are currently on that list.
So far, scientists have spent most of their time
studying a reef in Haulover Bay—at one time one of
the best elkhorn reefs around St. John. Researchers are
mapping and photographing coral colonies; recording
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THE STATE OF THE REEFS
ers; and sampling diseased coral tissue for pathogens.
These colonies have exhibited surprising changes since
scientists began to monitor them in February 2003.
Several small colonies have died, even though many
corals have shown rapid new growth. White pox disease
has affected almost 75 percent of the colonies, but in
some cases, the dead patches have healed. Coral-eating
snails have caused tissue loss on some colonies.
Branches have been broken off almost one-third of the
colonies by snorkelers and fishing line.
OTHER NEW RESEARCH TECHNOLOGIES
Throughout the Islands, new technologies are helping
us to understand how coral reef ecosystems function,
and how people’s activities, both on land and in the
water, affect those systems. Digital aerial photography
has brought about the first complete set of marine
habitat maps of the Islands. Along with maps of
watershed boundaries and vegetation on land, these
maps will be used to evaluate how land use affects
undersea habitats. Sonar has been used to map deep
shelf habitats below 60 feet. This work has uncovered
extensive coral reefs in water deeper than 130 feet in
the Marine Conservation District south of St. Thomas.
Scientists are also using hand-held Global Positioning
System devices to locate and measure the regrowth
of elkhorn coral stands. Scientists from the University
of the Virgin Islands and the National Park Service have
been using nitrox diving equipment—with less nitrogen
While no reefs have as many elkhorn corals as they
did in the 1970s, many bays in the U.S. Virgin Islands
and British Virgin Islands have new elkhorn colonies.
Scientists can’t predict whether the reefs will recover
entirely or not, but the signs are encouraging.
Coral bleaching occurs when the number of zooxanthellae in the coral tissues decreases, or when the pigments
of the zooxanthellae decrease, usually in response to
high water temperature, high solar radiation, and calm
seas. Global warming, El Niño, and changes in ocean
circulation contribute to this phenomenon. To help
predict environmental conditions that could lead to
bleaching events, NOAA installed the Coral Reef Early
Warning System (CREWS) on St. Croix. The CREWS
oceanographic buoy—one of 20 to be installed at a
variety of key sites in both the Caribbean and the
Pacific—provides real-time data on atmospheric and
oceanic conditions. Over the long term, these data
may help scientists foresee when bleaching events
could occur.
PHOTO: DOUG PE R R I NE / SEAPICS.COM
PREDICTING CORAL REEF BLEACHING EVENTS
LEFT: Some fish, such as these Goliath groupers, come together at predictable times and places to spawn, which makes them especially vulnerable
to overfishing. To promote healthy fish populations, it is vital to protect spawning areas from fishing.
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ABOVE: The Marine Conservation District at Red Hind Bank
seeks to protect spawning habitat of red hind.
than normal compressed air—to increase their time
under water and to study areas deeper than 100 feet.
The National Park Service is also using a sonar-based
underwater locating system to randomly locate
transects for long-term research on coral reefs in
St. John and St. Croix.
STUDYING HOW MARINE RESERVES AND
PROTECTED AREAS BENEFIT REEF FISH
Large reef fish, such as Nassau grouper and red hind,
are important to coral reef ecosystems; as top predators, they help to keep those systems in balance. Yet
these large fish are especially vulnerable to overfishing,
because they gather each year for only a few days at a
predictable place and time to spawn. Fishermen often
know where and when these events occur, and in
years past, they have responded by heavily fishing
spawning aggregations. In the U.S. Virgin Islands,
some local stocks were wiped out by intense fishing
pressure on spawning aggregations.
Researchers from the U.S. Virgin Islands Division of
Fish and Wildlife and from the University of the Virgin
Islands have been monitoring the recovery of red hind
in the territory’s marine reserves and protected areas.
Researchers documented the decline and subsequent
recovery of red hind through 1997 following a seasonal
closure in 1990 of a red hind spawning aggregation
site. The Red Hind Bank is located seven miles south
of St. Thomas, and in 1999 the Bank was designated a
Marine Conservation District—an area permanently
free from all fishing activity and anchoring. Since that
time, scientists from the University of the Virgin Islands
Center for Marine and Environmental Studies have documented dramatic increases in the size and biomass of
red hind—or the volume (by weight) of fish within a
specified area. Scientists from Jacksonville University
and the Oceanic Institute have also found that
designation of the Marine Conservation District led
to immediate increases in the size of fish and in the
number of male red hinds. (See figure on page 42.)
conducted nightly beach patrols on Buck Island,
collecting data critical to conserving hawksbills. They
have studied hawksbills’ fidelity to seasonal nesting
beaches, their migrations after nesting, inter-nesting
behavior, how hurricanes have affected the turtles, and
the sex ratio of hatchlings, or turtles that have just
emerged from eggs. Park staff and visiting scientists
have also studied the hawksbill population living
in the coral reef that surrounds Buck Island, capturing
juvenile turtles to determine sex, residency, growth
rate, and feeding habits.
The Ocean Conservancy and the Nature Conservancy
have been working together to identify additional
fish spawning aggregation sites to plan for future
reserves and to better manage and protect local
fish populations.
PHOTO: ZAN DY H I LLIS-STAR R
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PHOTO: CRAIG DAH LG R EN
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SEA TURTLE RESEARCH AT BUCK ISLAND
For nearly three decades, the U.S. National Park Service
has monitored threatened and endangered sea turtles
nesting at Buck Island Reef National Monument.
Hawksbill turtles are the smallest and most endangered
of the species that nest on Buck Island, and the U.S.
Virgin Islands is one of few areas in the Caribbean to
still have a nesting population of hawksbill turtles.
Over the last 17 years, biologists and volunteers have
ABOVE: A juvenile hawksbill turtle cruises a reef. Scientists at Buck
Island Reef National Monument are studying the habits and biology
of this endangered species.
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guy benjamin, milton samuel,
edmond roberts, fred samuel
Guy Benjamin is the self-proclaimed “oldest person in the world.” He and three of his friends—Fred Samuel, owner of
Fred’s Restaurant and Bar, Edmond Roberts, a third-generation fisherman retired from the National Park Service, and
Milton Samuel, also retired from the Park Service—offered their thoughts about how things have changed in the waters
of the Virgin Islands over the past several decades.
GUY BENJAMIN: I grew up on the East Point of St. John.
EDMOND ROBERTS: This was in the ’40s, ’50s, and early
We used the sea for everything. We fished, we boated, we
swam, we played and we worked. Talk about fishing! I started
to fish with a pin and a roll of thread!
’60s, but we were still catching lobsters that way in the early
’70s. We’ve had a population explosion in these islands in
the last 20 to 30 years. But in the mid ’70s, and prior to that,
we didn’t even have to use a boat to go out and get lobsters.
There’s a place in Coral Bay called Penn’s Point, and we
would go right off that point right there and catch lobsters,
as boys 12 or 13 years old, so the water must not have been
more than eight to ten feet deep, and we were catching
lobsters. There were no lobster regulations there. We would
catch baby lobsters using a bent common pin and a piece of
number 10 thread—we would have to sneak that out of the
house when our mom wasn’t watching, but we would go
and fish and we would cook them right there on the beach.
Lobsters and fish, and whelks, and conch. We could just
walk out and pick up queen conch!
MILTON SAMUEL: I’ve been around quite a bit, and I’ve
seen a lot of changes, and I don’t think some of the changes
are good for the island. In my day as a kid growing up in
Coral Bay, there were only two boats in the harbor, and
nobody slept on those boats. They were only used for taking
cargo back and forth between St. Thomas and St. John.
But now there are thousands of boats in Coral Bay. Where
is all the sewage going? And our government doesn’t do
anything about it.
GB: Milton, tell about the lobsters. How you and Edmond
PHOTO: AR MAN DO J E N I K
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and the rest of us used to get our lobsters.
MS: Well, when we wanted a lobster, we just used to go out
and dive for a lobster. We would just jump overboard, swim
out there, and get lobsters. And that was close to the shore!
ER: I remember that my father worked on the North Shore
of St. John in the late 1950s. Over there the ocean floor
looked black; there was such a tremendous concentration of
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minnows along those white sandy beaches. My father
would take a hoop basket and dip it down in the water
and pick up minnows—right there on the beach. The
concentration of minnows was fascinating to me.
I can remember seeing that black line of them, and
I haven’t seen anything like that in recent years, and
I don’t have any idea why.
“How can we get man to think about others rather than himself alone–
to understand that these resources are not his, but they belong to all of us,
and to understand that we are all brothers and sisters?”
—Guy Benjamin
MS: The boats are also pumping oil and waste.
We used to row our boats!
In those days, they also used fish traps. But they didn’t
want to put fish traps on the corals, because they would
get snagged. Instead, they put traps in the browsing
area, between the reef and the seagrass bed. This is
where the fish come out at night and feed. Certain types
of fish—some of the grunts, for example—spent much
of their time in the seagrass, and so you would set the
trap on the seagrass. But the last thing a fisherman
wanted to do was to set his traps on the coral.
PHOTO: N ICOLAS DRAYTON
ER: And the pleasure yachts and cruise ships are using
GB: So we didn’t kill the corals. We preserved the
corals.
And I remember that if we wanted a certain type of fish,
we would even catch a lobster and put it in our fish pot!
And we used to catch grouper—I know for sure—with
lobster for bait!
ER: Lobster and conch weren’t popular as food then.
They were good bait.
Recently, I’ve gone out snorkeling and I’ve seen
lobsters under rocks, so I know there are still lobsters
here. And I think that if they can protect the mangrove
estuaries, they are very critical to lobster production.
Those mangrove lagoons are very important to many
other types of marine life, you know, various other
types of shrimps and juvenile fish.
GB: When we were growing up I would find so many
LEFT TO RIGHT:
Edmond Roberts, Guy Benjamin, and Milton Samuel.
ER: But you don’t see many of them anymore.
In one pond there were tons of mullet with the herons
feeding on them. The ponds are very important
because they are settling areas for runoff. All of these
ponds have dried up or have become shallow, and the
mangroves have disappeared. The salt ponds allowed
the water settle before it got to the reef. There is a
strong relationship between the ponds and the reefs.
Today, there has been a dramatic decrease in the pelagic fish—the tuna and hard nose. I think they
disappeared when the minnows disappeared. Was it
because we were taking too many minnows or too
many pelagics? I think the quality of the water has
made the difference. Has the temperature of the water
changed? I think we need more research to find out.
anti fouling paints. No marine life can attach itself to
this paint. But what happens when that stuff gets into
our water?
All these things play a part. I’m not saying that we
shouldn’t have pleasure boats, but we need to be
more careful.
And the dramatic thing that I’ve seen here is the
change in population. If we could reduce the population it would make a difference for the reefs and fish.
MS: I agree. Also, I would charge the boaters for the
use of all the conveniences.
FRED SAMUEL: I’d change the living conditions. Too
PHOTO: NICOLAS DRAYTON
many people don’t have anything, and
as long as that’s so, you will have
problems. I would change working
conditions. We’re recycling people:
firing them and then rehiring them.
We also need to give the younger
people an opportunity to excel.
GB: How can we get man to think about others rather
than himself alone–to understand that these resources
are not his, but they belong to all of us, and to understand that we are all brothers and sisters?
mussels on the roots of the mangrove trees.
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Field Research Facilities
in the U.S. Virgin Islands
Virgin Islands Environmental Resource Station (VIERS) is located on the south coast of St. John. This facility was expanded in
the fall of 1968 as a field camp for the Tektite project. When
Tektite ended in 1970, the station was taken over by the College
of the Virgin Islands, now the University of the Virgin Islands.
Since then, VIERS has provided students and scientists with
opportunities to study first-hand the connection between terrestrial habitats and the coral reefs offshore. Faculty and students
from universities and institutions around the world conduct
research programs in marine biology and tropical ecology at
VIERS. The station also serves the local community, providing
opportunities for environmental education field studies.
The Virgin Islands Environmental Resource Station provides a place for
students and researchers from all over the world to conduct field studies in marine
biology and tropical ecology.
RIGHT:
PHOTOS: STE PHAN IE WEAR
In 1971, Fairleigh Dickinson University established the West
Indies Laboratory at Tague Bay, on the east end of St. Croix. But
in 1989, Hurricane Hugo destroyed the laboratory and its small
fleet, forcing it to close. Nevertheless, over its 18 years of existence, the laboratory generated nearly 250 scientific papers.
Scientists working at the St. Croix laboratory helped further our
understanding of fish recruitment patterns, habitat selection,
how coral reef fishes mate, and what factors influence reef fish
assemblages. They also documented the effects of white band
disease on elkhorn coral on the barrier reef at Buck Island.
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Reef Fish and Fisheries in the U.S. Virgin Islands The coral
reef ecosystems of the U.S. Virgin Islands provide habitat, food,
and shelter for a great diversity of reef fish. More than 300 shallowwater reef fish have been identified in the region.
The fisheries in the U.S. Caribbean are multi-species,
multi-gear, artisanal in nature and principally coral
reef-based. Commercial and recreational fishermen
target approximately 180 species. There are some
380 registered commercial fishermen in the U.S.
Virgin Islands. The commercial fishing fleet consists
primarily of small, open, wood or fiberglass fishing
boats. The fishing methods used include trap, net,
and line fishing, and diving.
Fish traps—known as “pots”—are the most popular
gear. Pots are generally constructed of wire mesh
with a rigid wooden or metal frame. Depending on
bottom conditions, traps may be set singly, or in
“strings,” with multiple traps connected by a single
line. Trap strings or individual traps may or may not
have buoys attached. Traps must be inspected for
compliance with mesh size regulations and biodegradable escape panels and door fastenings. Once it has
passed inspection, each trap is tagged with an owner
identification number.
Line fishing is the second most popular fishing
method, and the only gear used to catch pelagic fishes,
or those that frequent the open ocean. Fishermen use
hand lines, rod and reels, and electric or hydraulic reels
to troll—or fish near the surface—for open-ocean fishes and to bottom fish for shallow water reef fishes and
deepwater snappers and groupers.
Fishermen also use haul and purse seines, beach
seines, gill nets, and trammel nets made with monofilament or nylon line. Umbrella nets and cast nets are
typically used to harvest baitfish. Scuba and free diving
are used to spear fish and harvest conch, lobster, and
whelk, and also to set and work nets.
Because the shelf surrounding the islands is narrow,
fishermen often catch both reef and open-ocean fishes
during a single daily trip. Offshore fisheries mainly
target six species from the tuna-mackerel (Scombridae)
family and dolphin fish (Coryphaenidae) family.
Recreational fishermen are not required to have a
license or permit in the U.S. Virgin Islands, except
PHOTO: HEN RY TONNEMACH E R
THE STATE OF THE REEFS
ABOVE: Fish traps, or “pots” are the most popular fishing gear
among commercial fishermen in the Virgin Islands.
for those who engage in shrimp fishing and bait
fishing with cast nets in specified areas. As a result,
the exact number of recreational fishermen is
unknown. However, a telephone survey conducted in
2000 by the Eastern Caribbean Center estimated the
number of boat-based recreational fishermen to be
2,509. The number of boat-based and shore-based
anglers combined was estimated to be around 11,000,
or about 9.2 percent of the population.
Among recreational fishermen, trolling was reported
to be the most common boat-based fishing method,
followed by bottom fishing. Approximately half of all
recreational fishing occurs in territorial waters, within
three miles from shore. According to surveys, the most
abundant catch was snapper, followed by dolphin and
tuna. The 563 recreational shoreline anglers interviewed in the U.S. Virgin Islands between 1995 and
1998 reported catching French grunts most frequently,
followed by jacks and yellowtail snappers.
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T H E
R E E F S
Who manages our fish?
Historical overfishing in the Virgin Islands has depleted Nassau groupers. Although territorial regulations prohibit fishing
for Nassau groupers, the population has not increased sufficiently to form spawning aggregations (like this one in Belize).
BELOW:
In federal waters—from three to 200 nautical miles
offshore—regional councils manage fisheries resources
(fish, conch, lobster, corals) through fishery management
plans. The Caribbean Fishery Management Council is
responsible for fisheries resources in federal waters
around Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. The Shallow
Water Reef Fish Management Plan includes 64 of the
most commonly landed fish species from 14 families,
which compose the bulk of the catch from Puerto Rico
and the U.S. Virgin Islands. This management plan also
includes aquarium trade species; prohibits harvest of
Goliath and Nassau groupers and butterfly fishes;
places size limits on yellowtail snappers and queen
conchs; and enacts closures and gear restrictions.
PHOTO: DOUG PE R R I NE / SEAPICS.COM
The Government of the Virgin Islands has jurisdiction
over the marine resources in territorial waters, which
extend from the shoreline out to three nautical miles.
The Commissioner of the Department of Planning
and Natural Resources enacts fisheries management
regulations, and local fisheries advisory committees
make recommendations to the commissioner on how
to conserve these resources. The U.S. National Park
Service manages waters under its jurisdiction.
Traditional fishing is allowed in the National Park, but
it is largely prohibited in the National Monuments.
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The State of Reef Fish in the U.S. Virgin Islands
In 1991, the National Marine Fisheries Service
funded a stock assessment for shallow water reef fish
of the U.S. Caribbean. For the U.S. Virgin Islands, the
news was not good. The study found that the size
of numerous fish—parrotfishes, grunts, surgeonfishes, trunkfishes and queen triggerfishes—had
decreased over time. Large groupers, once the most
commercially important fish, were absent from the
fishery. Only two smaller grouper species, red hind
and coney, were common. However, red hind recruitment—or the number of young fish entering the population each year—was poor.
To improve the fish stocks, the scientists recommended that managers should: (1) ensure that federal and
territorial waters were governed by compatible regulations; (2) reduce fishing on small fishes; (3) protect
spawning aggregations; (4) improve compliance with
minimum size and other regulations; (5) increase fish
trap mesh size to two inches as soon as possible;
(6) establish additional marine reserves, and (7)
collect more biological information on fish.
Another National Marine Fisheries Service report on
St. Croix fisheries from 1997 through 2000 showed
further evidence of overfishing and depleted
resources. It indicated a 10 percent decrease in the
average weight of reef fish and a 12 percent decrease
in the average weight of lobster. The mean number
of fish per trap haul and the weight of fish per trap
haul decreased by 40 and 47 percent, respectively.
PHOTO: N ICOLAS DRAYTON
Spawning aggregations are precise areas where fish
come together to spawn at a specific time. Since
the 1960s, fishermen in the U.S. Virgin Islands have
targeted seasonal spawning aggregations of large
groupers and snappers. The continuous and unregulated fishing pressure during spawning resulted in the
demise of large, slow-growing, territorial species like
Nassau groupers, yellowfin groupers, and Goliath
groupers to the point where they no longer form
aggregations to spawn. Such fish are now quite rare,
and in some cases, fisheries extinct, meaning very few
of them appear in the fishery. In federal waters, fishing
for Nassau groupers has been prohibited since 1985.
Nevertheless, illegal fishing activities and the lack of
compatible territorial regulations have prevented
those fish populations from increasing sufficiently
to allow spawning aggregations to reform.
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olasee davis
Olasee Davis is Natural Resources Extension Specialist at the University of the Virgin Islands, a local historian, and a native
of the Islands. For The State of the Reefs, Olasee interviewed a number of fishermen and fisherwomen on the island of St.
Croix about how fishing has changed over the years and why. Here is what they told him.
WHAT FISHERMEN SAY
When I first began my interviews among the St. Croix
fishing community, most did not want to talk. The fishermen
believed that the government—federal and local—was taking
away their traditional rights to make a living. But when I
explained to them that I wanted their opinions for a book,
they began to open up.
While I was at the lagoon in Gallows Bay, I spoke to two
women about fishing on St. Croix. “From the 1940s to
the ’60s, conch and lobster used to be all along the shore,”
they told me. “The seagrass bed along the coast of Gallows
Bay used to have thousands of conch and lobster.” They
used to walk right into the water and select which conch
and lobster they wanted.
PHOTO: J UAN AR MAN DO SANCH E Z
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Other fishermen echoed these memories. “There were
so many lobsters and conchs in the seagrass beds along
the shore that there were more lobsters and conchs than
seagrass," one recalled. The Easter holidays were a time for
traditional catching of conch, lobster, and other fish among
the rocks along the shore. “There were always plenty of fish
to eat and share with friends,” said one.
Many old fishermen and fisherwomen used to catch fish by
walking out to the reef. In those days, they say, you could
choose which fish you wanted because they were so abundant. But this practice stopped in areas such as the Krause
Lagoon on the south shore of the island, because the building of an industrial complex nearby destroyed much of the
underwater habitat. The practice continued into the late
1960s and ’70s at Great Pond Bay, Spring Bay, and other
inlets or bays east of the Krause Lagoon, but as fish have
continued to decline, it has stopped almost entirely.
All of the St. Croix fishermen and fisherwomen I spoke
with agreed that the stocks and abundance of fishes have
changed over the years. When I asked why fish have declined
in the Virgin Islands, people cited a wide variety of reasons.
Some seemed to feel that pollution was responsible; “It’s
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“The traditional ethic of taking only what you need from the sea has been lost.”
—anonymous St. Croix fisherman
Still others pointed to the loss of habitat. The decline of
mangroves—habitat on which the reef fishes depend—
was another reason cited.
Several fishermen argued that greed and the loss of an
environmental ethic among the people was an important
contributor to the decline in fish. One person said, “too
many fishermen are catching fish.” Another noted that
people are catching too many small fishes—before they’ve
reached maturity—and they are not throwing them back
into the water. “Nowadays, you fish for long hours and
get smaller fishes because of greedy so-called fishermen
who catch everything including the small fishes," one
person said.
One St. Croix fisherman stated that he changed his
method of fishing from fish pots to line fishing "because
other individuals steal my fish pot. These so-called fishermen
open up your fish pot and take your fish. They even go with
your fish pot."
“The traditional ethic of taking only what you need from
the sea has been lost,” said one. “Everyone for himself,”
said another.
I then asked why fishermen were engaged in these harmful
practices. Most agreed that self-interest was involved: “These
so-called fishermen are greedy. They don't care about the
baby fishes getting a chance to grow up," said one person.
"Money comes first," said another. "They don't think on the
resources," said a third. Another fisherman said that because
things are expensive, “some so-called fishermen catch everything in sight to sell to make a living because buying a boat,
engines, or whatever they need for the boat is expensive.”
Whether or not they are catching too many or too small fish,
most had no problem selling their fish. Some fish sold on
the roadside might cost an "arm and a leg," but fishermen
are still able to sell them because people are looking for fresh
fish to buy.
During my interviews, one thing was clear; among fishermen, the term “overfishing” is a bad word. They don't
like to hear it. Some said that overfishing was the result of
individuals who don't depend on fishing for their living, or
of those who don't care about the resources.
PHOTO: N ICOLAS DRAYTON
because of coastal development and too many houses being
built near the sea. Dirt is destroying the fishing grounds.”
Others mentioned that raw sewage and pollution from the
oil refinery or other industrial complexes along the shore
are destroying the fish.
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T H E
R E E F S
Why are reef fish declining? The balance of nature that sustains
reef fish is complex and delicately intertwined at all levels. Man and
nature can easily upset this balance.
PHOTO: N ICOLAS DRAYTON
POOR FISHING PRACTICES
Many commercial fishermen recognize that they are
catching fewer—and smaller—fish, lobster, and conch.
And today, they have to travel farther from shore and
fish in deeper water than they used to.
Recognizing that their livelihoods depend on healthy
fish populations, some fishermen have taken an
active role in fish management by serving on local
fisheries advisory committees or Caribbean Fishery
Management Council committees. Numerous recommendations made by fishermen have been drafted into
regulations in the Virgin Islands. But unsound fishing
practices, such as targeting spawning aggregations
when the fish are most vulnerable, take many years
to reverse.
As fish become scarcer, fishermen rely on more
advanced fishing gear and innovations to sustain their
catches. In the early 1970s, for example, fishermen
began to use scuba gear to harvest conch, lobster, and
fish. As inshore fish were depleted, fishermen turned
their efforts offshore. Scuba gear also began to be used
in fishing with gill and trammel nets. This method
allowed the nets to be set in deeper water along daily
migration pathways of parrotfish from inshore feeding
grounds to offshore resting grounds. Using this
method, fishermen could remove an entire school of
parrotfish in one set. In addition, protected species
such as butterfly fish and federally listed endangered or
protected sea turtles were also caught incidentally. If the
nets were not carefully removed, they uprooted corals,
sea fans and sea whips, sponges, and other organisms.
Herbivorous, or plant-eating, fish, such as parrotfish,
spoil quickly. Over-harvesting and the inability to chill
and adequately store large quantities of such fish
results in wanton waste. Parrotfish are also one of the
major “grazers” on coral reefs. They help to keep the
algae in check, which allows coral larvae a better chance
to settle and become established. Removing too many
parrotfish, then, can have a serious impact on the
health of the reef itself.
Commercial fishermen have lost many traps in hurricanes. Although Virgin Islands regulations require traps
to be inspected before they are used, compliance and
enforcement are weak. Many fish traps in the Virgin
Islands lack the required biodegradable escape panel
and door fastenings that would allow fish to escape
when traps are lost or can’t be hauled. Once lost, traps
continue “ghost fishing”—or trapping and killing fish
for years—until they disintegrate or fall apart. Unable to
obtain loans or federal grants to replace this gear and
reluctant to sustain additional losses, many fishermen
on St. Croix changed over to fishing with nets. With gill
and trammel nets, they could catch more fish in a
shorter period of time.
Scuba gear is also used to fish deep-water purse seine
nets—up to 3,000 feet long and 100 feet deep—to target large schools of jacks. Several thousand pounds of
jacks may be caught in one set. Heavy weights on the
bottom of the nets can damage corals and other organisms when the net is pursed, or closed.
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Coastal development can cause enormous changes in the
health of underwater ecosystems. Uncontrolled building increases
sediment runoff that can smother corals and other marine life.
RIGHT:
PHOTO: BAR RY DEVI NE
Similarly, fishermen still use beach haul seines of over
1,000 feet in length in shallow, inshore waters. As fishermen retrieve seine nets from the beach, they drag
them across the bottom, often harming or dislodging
organisms living there. Although the nets are supposed
to be pursed in the water, most are hauled onto sand,
where unwanted fish are discarded.
The coastal areas of the U.S. Virgin Islands contain
extensive mangrove, seagrass, and coral reef habitats.
These areas are nursery grounds for important reef fish
and invertebrate species. The fish that commercial fishermen target have been largely depleted in these
inshore areas; as a result, commercial fishermen no
longer fish there. But recreational fishermen continue
to fish these areas, often catching juvenile reef fish,
conch and lobster that have not had the chance to
develop or reproduce, and putting additional stress on
fish populations.
NATURAL DISASTERS
Over the past two decades, several major hurricanes—
Hugo (1989), Marilyn (1995), Georges (1998) and
Lenny (1999)—affected the coral reefs, mangroves,
and seagrass beds. Coral reefs in many areas were
reduced to rubble, mangrove forests were damaged,
and seagrass beds were covered with sand or severely
eroded with blowouts—areas where the seagrass and
rhizome root systems were washed away. Many coral
colonies that survived the hurricanes have been
severely impacted by coral diseases and increases in
algal growth. A Caribbean-wide die-off of the longspined, black sea urchin (Diadema antillarum) occurred
in 1983. This sea urchin was another major grazer on
the coral reefs, helping to keep the algal growth in
check. All of these events have contributed to the
loss of, or change in, fish habitat.
COASTAL DEVELOPMENT, HABITAT LOSS,
AND DECLINING WATER QUALITY
Coastal development for private homes, hotels and
tourist facilities, marinas and industrial facilities has
destroyed important nursery habitat for many valuable
finfish and shellfish. Coastal mangrove communities
have been, and continue to be, the most seriously
affected. Sediment runoff, industrial discharges—
including rum effluent, sewage, and leaching from landfills—and dredging has impaired water quality, particularly near the shore. These practices have made traditional nursery habitats inhospitable to fish, lobsters,
and conchs.
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B R E A K
Scientists have long known that marine reserves—areas
protected from fishing and other extractive uses—can
benefit fish populations, increasing the size and abundance
of fish. USVI researchers have discovered that the Marine
Conservation District at Red Hind Bank has helped to
increase the size of red hind, both inside and around the
marine reserve. As this chart shows, after 14 years of protection from fishing, red hind, which migrate to spawn within
the reserve, increased, on average, by eight centimeters—
or more than three inches—in length. Scientists also discovered that the average size of red hind caught by the St.
Thomas fishery (port) increased during the same period.
This study confirms that protecting fish spawning aggregations with marine reserves can extend benefits to ocean
areas beyond their borders.
31 cm total length
1990
St. Thomas reserve
39 cm total length
30 cm total length
2004
2004
pressures of fishing. They can also help to preserve
the balance of ecosystems that sustain fish and other
marine life.
SETTING LIMITS
Recognizing that overfishing was a serious problem,
in 2001, the Fisheries Advisory Committees in the
U.S. Virgin Islands recommended that no new commercial fishing licenses be issued. A moratorium on new
licenses went into effect in August of that year. The
Fishery Advisory Committees are currently working on a
licensing program that would give greater identity to
commercial fishermen, limit entry into the fishery,
restrict the use of certain types of gear, update regulations, establish new license fees, and develop a recreational license to help measure the scope and impacts
of recreational fishing. The Advisory Committee on
St. Croix has also recommended that bottom gill and
trammel nets be banned. Other Committee recommendations that have come to fruition include seasonal
closures to protect spawning aggregations of red hind
and mutton snapper in the territory, seasonal closures
and size and bag limits for conch, and establishing
marine reserves—including no-take areas, or areas
free from fishing—on the east end of St. Croix.
ESTABLISHING MARINE RESERVES,
TERRITORIAL PARKS, AND NATIONAL
MONUMENTS
1992
St. Thomas port
34.5 cm total length
Conserving Reef Fish
Marine reserves have been recognized as valuable
tools for conserving fish, because they provide fish
with places to spawn, grow, and live apart from the
CHART SOURCE: DR. RICHARD NEMETH, NOAA FISHERIES, AND THE
In 2002, the government of the Virgin Islands designated
the first territorial park: East End Marine Park on St.
Croix. Most of the Park’s inshore waters have been
designated a reserve or no-take zone. The U.S. Virgin
Islands has also established several areas where fishing
is restricted: CasCay/Mangrove Lagoon and St. James
Marine Reserves on St. Thomas. Regulations are pending for Salt River Marine Reserve and Wildlife Sanctuary.
Under interim regulations, the National Park Service
prohibits fishing or removing marine life within Virgin
Islands Coral Reef National Monument off St. John and
Buck Island Reef National Monument off St. Croix.
SPAWNING AREA AND SEASONAL CLOSURES
The Caribbean Fishery Management Council has
established seasonal spawning area closures in federal
waters for red hind off the south coast of St. Thomas
and off the east end of St. Croix (Lang Bank) during
the months of December, January, and February. A joint
territorial-federal spawning area closure has also been
established for mutton snapper off the southeast coast
of St. Croix from March through June of each year. A
year-round closure, the Marine Conservation District,
has been established off St. Thomas. No fishing is
permitted within the closed area. Federal authorities
have established annual seasonal closures for conch
during the months of July, August, and September to
complement regulations in territorial waters.
U.S. VIRGIN ISLAND DIVISION OF FISH AND WILDLIFE.
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Tortola
BRITISH VIRGIN
ISLANDS
Virgin Islands
National Park
MANAGING FISHING PRESSURE
Charlotte Amalie
Cruz Bay
St. John
Cas Cay/Mangrove Marine
Reserve and Wildlife Sanctuary
Virgin Islands Coral Reef
National Monument
N
Red Hind Bank Marine
Conservation District
E
W
S
Marine protected areas in the U.S. Virgin Islands
Island Area in
square miles
18˚
St. Croix
St. John
St. Thomas
0
0
84
20
32
Miles
Kilometers
15
15
Buck Island Reef
National Monument
Buck
Island
Christiansted
Frederiksted
St. Croi x
17˚40'N
64˚40'W
East End
Marine Park
65˚
Under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Management
and Conservation Act—the law that regulates U.S. fish
and fisheries—the fisheries councils are required to
describe and identify Essential Fish Habitat—or habitat
areas that are critical to the species’ ability to reproduce
and thrive. The councils must also identify actions
needed to conserve and enhance habitat, and to minimize any adverse effects of fishing on habitat. The
Caribbean Fishery Management Council is currently
completing an environmental impact statement, which
contains alternatives for limiting habitat damage from
fishing and reducing overall fishing effort by 30 percent
in federal waters. Before they are finally adopted, these
alternatives will be reviewed, presented, and discussed
at public meetings.
St. Thomas
18˚20'
MAP: J E ROM E COOKSON / DATA: U NIVE R SITY OF TH E VI RG IN ISLAN DS CONSERVATION DATA CENTE R AN D U.S. NATIONAL PAR K SERVICE
To reduce fishing pressure on depleted inshore reef
fish, the government of the Virgin Islands has installed
fish aggregating devices in offshore waters. These
devices are intended to redirect effort to fish such as
tuna, dolphin, and wahoo. These fish buoys are 58-inchdiameter steel spheres, mounted with a radar reflector
and strobe light and anchored in water up to one mile
in depth. They attract small baitfish and juvenile tunas,
which in turn attract larger fish. The program has
proven very effective in attracting open-ocean fish to
specific areas.
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R E E F S
Fisheries Challenges
Still, conserving reef fish is not simply the responsibility of government; it is the responsibility of everyone—fishermen, consumers, divers, and all those
who use or affect the coral reef ecosystems.
Managers and decision makers have a responsibility
to make informed decisions based on the best available science. But citizens, too, have a right—and a
responsibility—to speak out on fishery management
decisions. We must all recognize our responsibility
to conserve and manage our marine resources so
that successive generations of Virgin Islanders can
experience, appreciate, and enjoy them.
PHOTO: N ICOLAS DRAYTON
The creation of marine reserves and territorial parks,
seasonal closed areas for spawning aggregations,
and the expansion of national monuments has
dramatically reduced the fishable waters of the U.S.
Virgin Islands. Areas where development or industrial
impacts have degraded water quality have reduced
these areas even more. As a result, there are now
too many fishermen for the limited resources available. As the fishable areas have decreased, competition for the fish available in those limited areas has
increased. Many good management regulations
exist to protect our reef fish resources, but the ability
to enforce these regulations is lacking.
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