2006-285 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

Fish Surveys Fish population evaluations will be based on visual censuses conducted separately on HRHC and LRLC mitigation reefs and high and low relief control reefs . The point-count method (Bohnsack and Bannerot 1986) will be used for fish assessment. This method has the advantage of gathering quantitative data in a relatively short time in a very repeatable pattern that is relatively insensitive to differences in habitat structure. Each census will have a duration of 5 minutes and a radius (the distance from the stationary observer) of 10 feet. Ten censuses will be collected on each of the four reef types . Data from these types of censuses is rarely normally distributed; therefore, the Wilcoxon Rank-Sum or a similar nonparametric test will be used for significance testing. The criteria for mitigation reef success will be a finding of no significant difference at p=0 .05 between reef type pairs (HRHC vs . high relief control and LRLC vs. low relief control). Juvenile sea turtle surveys At the request of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWCC), mitigation reef monitoring will include the following protocol to assess the sea turtles utilization, particularly juvenile green turtles, of the mitigation reefs. During each annual monitoring event, the vessel will anchor in the center of the mitigation reef array . For a period of 30 minutes, two observers, positioned in a tower or otherwise at the highest point on the vessel, shall search the 360 degree area around the boat and count all surfacings by sea turtles in the vicinity and identify the species and life history stage. These data shall be graphically compared with both previous results for the mitigation reef and with concurrent sampling at the mitigation reef monitoring control reef areas. Deliverables/Reporting Requirements All data deliverables shall be provided within 60 days after completion of the survey. Data deliverables include all digital video transects on compact disk, frame-grabbed images from all transects on compact disk, PointCount files and associated data (i.e. PTS files, MGR files, cd.dat files), Excel spreadsheets of Point Count data (raw data and summary files), and Excel spreadsheets of in-situ quadrat data. The monitoring reports, with appropriate graphics/tables, statistical analysis of the collected data and comparison of mitigation reef habitat to natural hardbottom, shall be provided within 90 days after completion of the survey. Reports shall be provided to FDEP, BBCS, in both hard copy and digital format. Notification Requirements: Adverse weather conditions and Contingency Monitoring Plan If adverse weather conditions are encountered which do not allow for field operations, the biological consultant shall maintain a log of all attempts to conduct the survey and weather/visibility conditions which prevented collection of the required data. If the biological monitoring team encounters poor visibility conditions that prevent collection 5