Contact: Justin Kenney FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(301) 713-3145 x153 5/17/95
Alyson Simmons
(305) 292-0311
Coral reef restoration work at two grounding sites in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary are expected to begin this summer with implementation of a $1.047 million contract to Team- Land Development Inc. of Pompano Beach, Fla.
The contract was awarded by the Commerce Department's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Jacksonville District.
"NOAA will soon begin an unprecedented effort to restore critical coral reef habitats destroyed by two major ship groundings," said Charles M. Wahle of NOAA's Sanctuaries and Reserves Division. "The first phase of this project will stabilize the damaged reef habitat and recreate the overall physical structure of the coral reef surface, thereby enhancing rates of recovery of the coral communities that existed prior to the groundings."
On Oct. 25, 1989, the M/V Alec Owen Maitland, a 155- foot oil field supply vessel, grounded south of Carysfort Reef in the Key Largo National Marine Sanctuary, now part of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary (FKNMS). On Nov. 11, 1989, the M/V Elpis, a 470-foot cargo freighter, grounded on nearby Elbow Reef. Both sites are part of the same reef system.
These groundings, as well as subsequent attempts by the operators to free the vessels from the reef, resulted in significant injuries to the reef substrate and resident marine organisms. Coral colonies, sponges, and sea fans at the sites were destroyed and attempts to free the vessels caused holes in the reef's surface. The resulting debris threatens living resources in the vicinity of the grounding sites. Since the groundings, the excavations have expanded and will continue to do so in the absence of restoration efforts.
NOAA pursued natural resource damage actions under the National Marine Sanctuaries Act (NMSA) to recover funds from the responsible parties to restore the damaged reef. The two grounding cases were settled out of court in 1991. The NMSA authorizes NOAA to pursue civil actions to recover response costs and damages from parties who destroy, cause the loss of, or injure sanctuary resources. Damage claims include, among other things, the cost to restore, replace, or acquire the equivalent of injured resources; the value of lost uses pending recovery of injured resources; the cost of conducting damage assessments; and the reasonable costs of monitoring.
NOAA's Sanctuaries and Reserves Division and Damage Assessment Center (part of the National Ocean Service) and the Restoration Center (National Marine Fisheries Service), and NOAA contractors developed plans for the structural restoration of the injured areas. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is managing the construction contract and will conduct on-site management during the entire project.
This structural restoration project represents innovative techniques developed by Olsen Associates Inc., a coastal engineering firm based in Jacksonville, Fla. At the Maitland site, 40 large, pre-cast concrete structures will be placed over the unstable excavations in the reef's surface and then cemented together. At the Elpis site, quarried limestone boulders will be placed in large blow holes and sand will be poured around the boulders to form a continuous surface. These structures will recreate typical three-dimensional habitat relief and act as a stable, natural framework on which coral may be transplanted and coral larvae can colonize, thereby increasing the habitat value of the area.
The short-term goals of this restoration are to prevent additional injury from loose debris in the vicinity of the grounding sites, stabilize the reef substrate, and accelerate the rate of natural recovery at the sites. Subsequent efforts by sanctuary biologists will include active transplantation of corals, sea fans and sponges into the newly stabilized habitat, thereby accelerating recovery by years or decades.
Industrial Economics Inc., Continental Shelf Associates and Olsen Associates Inc. have been instrumental in the development and implementation of these restoration plans.