technical report

Marine fisheries scientists, user groups, and resource managers in the southeastern
Atlantic states have determined that there is need for accurate information on the
location and extent of hard-bottom habitat, which is of importance to the maintenance of
reef-fish stocks. Reef fish have declined to such low levels that reproductive stocks are
often inadequate to maintain current populations, and some fisheries stocks may be
approaching a state of collapse. In order to meet this need for information, a Bottom
Mapping Work Group was formed in 1985 by the SEAMAP management committee.
The work group developed a plan for establishing a bottom-mapping database using
historical information obtained from surveys of the study area, and a study was
subsequently initiated to describe and characterize hard-bottom resources in the South
Atlantic Bight. . The initial segment of the study was conducted by scientists in South
Carolina and Georgia (Van Dolah et al., 1994), and the study was continued by scientists
in North Carolina (Moser et al., 1995). A total of 23,960 records with information on
location and type of bottom were compiled during the first two segments of the study.
The SEAMAP Bottom-Mapping Study was initiated by Florida in 1994.
The Florida study group has 1) expanded the list of hard-bottom-obligate fishes to
264 taxa, 2) developed a protocol for using specimen-collection-based information to
acquire evidence of bottom type, and 3) developed a protocol for incorporating areal
data into the database so that the area-data records are equivalent to those of the point
and line-segment records incorporated into the database during the first two segments of
the study. The Florida group has incorporated an additional 20,787 records from 37
sources with determinations of bottom type into the database. Of these records, 900 are
derived from 9 areal databases, primarily from surveys that used side-scan sonar, and an
additional secondary data table (Appendix 4) that summarizes those records has been
added to the database. Approximately 37% of the grid cells in the Florida study area
contain some data on bottom type, and the database now totals 44,747 records.

A 17-day research cruise was conducted to the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary (FKNMS), August 12-29, 2019 by the Cooperative Institute for Ocean Exploration, Research, and Technology (CIOERT) at Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, Florida Atlantic University (HBOI-FAU) aboard the University of Miami ship R/V F.G. Walton Smith. Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute Technical Report Number 197.

A 17-day research cruise was conducted to the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary (FKNMS), August 12-29, 2019 by the Cooperative Institute for Ocean Exploration, Research, and Technology (CIOERT) at Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, Florida Atlantic University (HBOI-FAU) aboard the University of Miami ship R/V F.G. Walton Smith. Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute Technical Report Number 198.

A 14-day research cruise was conducted May 30 to June 12, 2021 by NOAA National Marine Fisheries on the NOAA Ship Pisces with the UNCW Mohawk ROV with a pre-cruise Shelter in Place (SIP. Other collaborators involved include: the Cooperative Institute for Ocean Exploration, Research, and Technology (CIOERT) at Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, Florida Atlantic University (HBOI-FAU), and University of North Carolina at Wilmington (UNCW). Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute Technical Report Number 199.

Mesophotic coral reef ecosystems (MCEs) are light-dependent benthic communities that occur deeper than shallow reefs and typically range from depths of 30 m to the bottom of the photic zone, which may extend to >150 m in some regions. MCEs represent in part an extension of shallow-water coral reef ecosystems and support a diverse assemblages of habitat-building taxa, including corals, sponges and algae, and associated fish (Reed et al., 2018).
Many MCEs worldwide appear to be thriving compared to shallow reefs. The deep reef refugia hypothesis suggests that MCEs may be less impacted from natural and anthropogenic impacts than shallow coral reefs, and may be more stable and resilient than shallow reefs. MCEs may also act as refugia for shallow reef species through the export of fish and coral larvae. However, it is now apparent that MCEs are also vulnerable to disturbances from all facets of perturbations including climate change, bottom trawling, invasive species, and pollution. Whereas considerable data have been reported regarding the distribution, ecology, and health of Cuba’s shallow reefs, relatively little is known about the distribution, community structure and health of Cuba’s deep mesophotic reefs. Cuba’s strong marine policies and legislation has already resulted in 105 MPAs, covering nearly 25% of its insular shelf, yet overfishing, poaching, pollution and global warming are threats to these vulnerable ecosystems, as reefs worldwide are threatened.

The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council (SAFMC) and Department of Commerce through the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Management Act have established eight deepwater Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), five Deepwater Coral Habitat Areas of Particular Concern (CHAPCs), and the Oculina Coral HAPC off of the southeastern U.S. This project proposes to document and characterize the benthic habitat, benthic sessile biota, and fish populations within some of these protected areas and within the jurisdiction of the SAFMC. The Oculina Experimental Closed Area (OECA) was established in 1994 and closed the area to all bottom fishing in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the reserve for management and conservation of snapper grouper populations. The OECA is located within the Oculina Habitat Area of Particular Concern (OHAPC) which was established in 1984 when the significance and value of Oculina varicosa to important fishery species was recognized by the SAFMC. The OHAPC doubled in size when the Northern and Western Extensions were added with the implementation of Amendment 8 of the Fishery Management Plan in August 2015. As part of the OECA Evaluation Plan, a re-evaluation of the area is currently in progress. Data collected from the current grant will provide crucial data needed for this re-evaluation.

This paper is a result of the taxonomic analyses of the sponges collected during the NOAA Ship Pisces expeditions in 2018 and 2019 with the University of North Carolina, Wilmington (UNCW) Mohawk ROV. This is part of a 9-year project conducted by NOAA National Marine Fisheries (NMF) in collaboration with the Cooperative Institute for Ocean Exploration, Research, and Technology (CIOERT) at Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, Florida Atlantic University (HBOI-FAU) to document and monitor the Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) of the southeastern U.S. continental shelf (eastern Florida to North Carolina, 50-165 m deep). The most prominent and conspicuous sponges were collected with the intention of evaluating the biodiversity of this important benthic group in these mesophotic habitats. Eleven sponge samples were collected, and taxonomic evaluation, studying the internal and external morphology, resulted in: 1) three well recognized species from the Tropical Western Atlantic (Leiodermatium lynceus, Neofibularia nolitangere, Clathria foliacea), 2) four species with sibling recognized species but with major morphological differences that might require the description of new species (Epipolasis cf. profunda, Cliona cf. tumula, Cliona aff. celata), and 3) three species that only could receive generic assignations (Penares sp.1, Clathria sp.1, and Aaptos sp.1). These results show that more than half of the species collected represent unknown species to science, or unknown variations of recognized species. Careful comparison with species types and observations of spicules under SEM would allow the necessary evidence to characterize and classify these new species or varieties. We suggest further characterization of these novel fauna considering their level of abundance and distribution in the MPAs studied. A synoptic description of each species studied, with live, deck and microscopy photographs is here presented.

From October 31 to November 20, 2019 the NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research (OER) conducted the 2019 Southeastern U.S. Deep-sea Exploration remotely operated vehicle (ROV) and mapping cruise (EX1907) from Miami, Florida, to Key West, Florida. Twelve ROV dives were completed, and over 12,700 square kilometers were mapped during this expedition. This report includes an expedition overview, participant lists, the methodology, clearance and permit information, the schedule, and results of dives, sampling, and mapping operations and education and outreach activities. All data will be archived and made publicly available.

The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council (SAFMC) and Department of Commerce through the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Management Act have established eight deepwater Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), five deepwater Coral Habitat Areas of Particular Concern (CHAPCs), and the Oculina Coral HAPC along the outer continental shelf off the southeastern U.S. This project proposed to document and characterize the benthic habitat, benthic sessile biota, and fish populations within some of these protected areas and within the jurisdiction of the SAFMC.
In February 2009, the SAFMC implemented eight Type II MPAs between Cape Hatteras, NC and the Florida Keys to protect seven species of the deepwater snapper-grouper complex. The closures, however, will provide ecosystem-level benefits to the entire complex as well as protect the shelfedge reef habitat they utilize. These consist of five species of grouper: snowy grouper (Hyporthodus niveatus), yellowedge grouper (H. flavolimbatus), warsaw grouper (H. nigritus), misty grouper (H. mystacinus) and speckled hind (Epinephelus. drummondhayi), and two species of tilefish: golden tilefish (Lopholatilus chamaeleonticeps) and blueline tilefish (Caulolatilus microps). The shelf-edge MPAs are known to contain reef habitat exploited by these five species of grouper as well as deepwater soft bottom habitat used by the two tilefish species. These species are considered to be at risk due to currently low stock densities and to life history characteristics which subject them to substantial fishing mortality.
This monitoring program for the MPAs will ensure the Council remains well informed of changes within reef fish populations and coral habitats associated with these MPAs. NOAA NMFS conducted preliminary examinations of five of these potential MPA sites in 2004, 2006, 2007 and 2008. Post-closure data were also collected in 2009, 2010, and 2012 – 2019. The MPAs afforded the opportunity to obviate the criticisms of comparing MPAs with adjacent open-to fishing areas by examining the MPAs for four years prior to the closures. Since monitoring began in 2004, this project has produced population density estimates of targeted reef fish species within the boundaries of five of the eight MPAs and adjacent control areas, before and after closure.