The Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary (FKNMS) is a 2800 square nautical mile marine protected area that was designated in 1990 and is administered under the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Ocean Service (NOAA/NOS). A comprehensive management plan for the Sanctuary was adopted in 1997 that contained an innovative tool for marine resource protection, the creation of a network of 23 no-take zones, or marine reserves. Marine reserves have been utilized successfully in other countries for decades and zoning, in general, is a well-recognized management tool in terrestrial habitats. However, the use of marine zoning in the Florida Keys was a first for this country, representing a bold step in marine resource protection.

The FKNMS zoning network includes five different zone types designed to achieve various objectives. One zone type, ecological reserves, was specifically designed to protect a full-range of habitats and preserve biodiversity. In 1997, one ecological reserve was established in the Western Sambo area of the Sanctuary with the commitment to create a second ecological reserve in the Tortugas region, located in the westernmost reaches of the Florida Keys. In 1998, a process called Tortugas 2000 was initiated and a diverse working group of 25 stakeholders and agency representatives convened to design the Tortugas Ecological Reserve.

One of the initial components of this reserve design process was supplying oceanographic and ecological data from the Tortugas region to the working group. Dr. Tom Lee and colleagues from the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science collected and synthesized extensive physical oceanographic information for the Tortugas 2000 effort. These data were the product of ten years of research by Dr. Lee to map current patterns and water movements throughout the Florida Keys, Gulf of Mexico, and Florida Bay.

Several satellite-tracked surface drifters were released at various locations and times of the year and monitored by project researchers. Data on individual drifters was presented to the working group to elucidate the varied oceanographic circulation in the Tortugas region. The persistence and direction of major surface currents was demonstrated by combining data from several drifter tracks with observations of coastal and offshore currents, sea temperature, and wind speeds, providing a clear picture of broad-scale circulation patterns. A research project supported by the Center for Marine Conservation that tracked the return of small drift bottles released in the Tortugas during a known reef fish spawning event and descriptions of Caribbean-wide current patterns (after C. Roberts, 1997) were also provided to the working group. These data were then compared with known life history information (specifically, planktonic larval durations) of several key fish and invertebrate species. The combined physical and biological data created a comprehensive picture of potential larval recruitment pathways in the Florida Keys, and confirmed that the Tortugas region has high potential to serve as both a source and sink area for the larvae of many recreationally and commercially important marine species (Fig. 1). Lastly, these physical and biological data were overlaid with socioeconomic information on the uses of the area to create a comprehensive picture of the region’s resources and activities, and to assess the potential impacts and effectiveness of any given reserve boundary alternative.

Figure 1. Potential larval recruitment pathways in the Florida Keys (current data courtesy of T. Lee).

A consensus proposal for the Tortugas Ecological Reserve was submitted by the working group in June 1999 to the six agencies with jurisdiction in the region. Final agency approvals are expected in April 2001, after which the FKNMS will implement its largest no-take zone, the Tortugas Ecological Reserve (Fig. 2). At 151 square nautical miles, the Tortugas Ecological Reserve will be an order of magnitude larger than the rest of the Sanctuary’s no-take zones combined.

Figure 2. Proposed boundary for the Tortugas Ecological Reserve, which will be comprised of two sections called Tortugas North and Tortugas South. The Dry Tortugas National Park plans to implement a no-take zone within park waters that will protect critical shallow reef habitats and complement the Tortugas Ecological Reserve (labeled below as “DRTO Proposed RNA”)

The establishment of an ecological reserve in the Tortugas region attained much significance as a result of the oceanographic data gathered by Dr. Lee and other researchers. These data clearly demonstrate the potential benefits of an upstream, no-take reserve to the Florida Keys marine ecosystem and beyond. Marine reserve efforts worldwide will benefit from the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary’s successes using oceanographic data in the design and establishment of the Tortugas Ecological Reserve.

Joanne Delaney, Research Interpreter, NOAA/Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary www.fknms.nos.noaa.gov/tortugas