Your Action Needed
Over 40,000 fish traps are putting American coral reefs off West Florida, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin islands at daily risk of serious damage. Federal regulators ought to act on ReefKeeper proposals to reduce the risk of fish trap damage to American coral reefs. But it's going to be a very uphill battle to overcome fish trapper influence on these regulatory agencies and get the right thing done. We need you to stand up for reefs along with us. Together we can make the difference.
DO FISH TRAPS DAMAGE CORAL? Fish traps are 2-foot-by-4-foot wire mesh cages used to catch snappers, groupers and other edible reef fish. To catch reef fish, fish traps need to be set near coral reef habitat. But a large proportion of those traps are slamming down ON coral! That needs to stop immediately. But federal regulators are downplaying the damage and resisting our request to prohibit the setting of fish traps on coral.
Two recent scientific studies prove that over 40% of fish traps set in U.S. coral reef areas off Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands land directly on coral (Appeldoorn et. al. 2000, Quandt 1999). Based on government estimates of 20,000 fish traps in use in the U.S. Caribbean, that works out to more than EIGHT THOUSAND traps smashing up coral off Puerto Rico and the USVI every day. But a May 2001 "scoping report" by the U.S. Caribbean Fishery Management Council summarizes those findings by simply stating that "most traps in the studies were not placed on coral reefs." With no more details or numbers given. We can not allow this attempt to sweep this outrageous problem under the rug.
The 2 scientific studies also found that large amounts of coral are being damaged by fish traps. One study gauged damage at 10 square centimeters PER WEEK for every trap on coral (Quandt 1999). The other study calculated weekly damage per trap at 70 square centimeters of "complete removal of coral tissue" (Appeldoorn 2000). Average those numbers and multiply by 8,000 traps per week landing on coral and the result is 160,000 square meters (40 acres) of coral damaged (destroyed, really) each and every year! Not counting more damage from hauling up the traps. Or infection and death of the damaged coral colonies. But the federal spin doctors are downplaying that, too.
WHAT IS BEING DONE TO STOP FISH TRAP CORAL DAMAGE? Regulators go ballistic if a boat anchor damages one single coral colony. But the May 2001 preliminary Amendment to the U.S. Caribbean Reef Fish Management Plan discounts the ANNUAL destruction by traps of the equivalent of 40 acres of coral as "little direct impact." We don't see how that can be. We very much doubt that you do either. But you can see what a tough fight we have on our hands (off West Florida, also) to put a stop to this wanton destruction of American coral.
ReefKeeper has petitioned the responsible federal agencies to adopt 3 very simple measures. Prohibit setting of fish traps directly on coral. Require 100-foot buffer zones between coral reefs and traps. Limit trap strings to 2 traps to prevent most hauling damage. And off West Florida, implement an electronic Vessel Monitoring System to track where fish trap boats go -- something which was given "final" agency approval 18 months ago.
WHAT CAN YOU DO? We've documented the need for these measures. We've testified at meetings. We've argued the issue one-on-one with agency representatives. And at every meeting of the fishery management councils we press for protection from fish traps for our coral reefs. You can speak up too, by signing the petition on this website.
If you don't think fish traps should continue crunching American coral reefs, let the federal regulators know.
Sign onto the petition.
Your help could make a crucial difference. **********************************************
REFERENCES CITED Appeldoorn R. S., M. Nemeth, J. Vasslides, M. Scharer. February 2000. The effect of Fish Traps on Benthic Habitats off La Parguera, Puerto Rico. Department of Marine Science, University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez, PR 00681. 29 pages.
Quandt, A. 1999. Assessment of fish trap damage on coral reefs around St. Thomas, USVI. University of the Virgin Islands, St. Thomas USVI. 14 pages.