global decline in the overall health of coral reef ecosystems. NOAA is currently examining the status of numerous species (10) of coral to determine whether they merit protection as threatened or endangered species under the Endangered Species Act of 1973. However, adequate baseline and survey data does not exist to provide a rigorous scientific assessment of the nature and extent of the problem. There is great need for the further development of scientifically based, and internationally coordinated

monitoring of reef ecosystems.

While predicting global climate is an important long-term challenge to the management of our natural resources, a more immediate concern is the stress originating from local and regional anthropogenic sources (i.e., human population growth, land use, resource exploitation, recreational boating, and waste disposal). One effect is unambiguous: long-term nutrient loading in coastal areas or enclosed basins is damaging to nearshore ecosystems, particularly coral reefs.

As in other regions of the world, there is qualitative evidence that the coral reefs in Florida are stressed.

In fact,

in some localized areas, coral mortality has been observed. Anthropogenic impacts on the reefs are likely to be significant, especially since many of their sources are attributed to local, heavily populated coastal areas and of the nature of water circulation in the Keys. However, little quantitative

scientific data is available to statistically demonstrate a clear link between anthropogenic inputs and coral reef health. Baseline studies on the Florida coral reef ecosystem are scarce. This lack of data makes it extremely difficult to detect changes in community structure within the coral reef ecosystem or to distinguish between "natural" changes and anthropogenic perturbations.

Anthropogenically induced stress on coral reefs resulting from land use practices, waste disposal and non-point source nutrient loading may be more subtle than coral bleaching in that these have sub lethal, chronic effects on coral ecosystems. These stresses may be much more detrimental than those which commonly attract more public attention. The water quality of Florida Bay significantly impacts the health of Florida's coral reefs. The mangroves and seagrass beds in the Bay act as a filter by accelerating and stabilizing sediment deposition of Florida Bay water before it moves through the many cuts in the Keys and into the coral reef tract.

Historically, Florida Bay received a significant influx of freshwater from the Everglades and central Florida. This freshwater has been increasingly diverted for irrigation and metropolitan water supplies, drastically reducing the input into Florida Bay. While historical salinity levels in the Florida Bay have fluctuated dramatically, reduced inputs of fresh water

into the system are suspected of having an adverse impact on the ecosystem. Further, nutrients from agricultural activities in Central Florida run off into the Bay and may overload the ecosystem's capacity to assimilate these nutrients.

Additionally, increases in nutrients to coral reefs may be due to inputs such as waste water seepage from adjacent land practices.

One hypothesis is that waste water generated in the Keys and pumped into septic tanks or into injection wells in the ground is seeping into the groundwater and out onto the reef. These nutrients could be assimilated by local algal populations. Algal populations can compete with corals for space on the reef, and may actually smother the coral. We simply do not have the data to be certain of the exact level of nutrient increase, nor its exact cause.

Coral bleaching has affected some parts of the reef. "Bleaching" is the loss of symbiotic algae by reef corals, and is believed to be a stress response to a variety of environmental perturbations (i.e., significant alterations and extremes of light, temperature, and salinity). Bleached corals exhibit reduced fitness in terms of growth and reproduction. Incidences of high water temperatures have been correlated with coral bleaching but a direct cause and effect relationship has not been established. Other stresses are also known to cause bleaching and our knowledge of both coral stress responses and the unknown nature of climate change make it impossible at

present to claim that coral bleaching is an early indicator of the global greenhouse effect. There is an increasing need for systematic monitoring of the physiological health of coral reefs as a basis for coral bleaching research.

In addition to the "natural" and anthropogenic stresses, several diseases (i.e., black band and white band disease) are causing increased coral stress and mortality. These are

examples of problems increasingly seen to be occurring in coral reefs not only in Florida, but worldwide.

While increased attention must be devoted to coordinated research and monitoring efforts, several important and positive programs right here in Florida are currently underway.

In 1989, the Florida Institute of Oceanography, with the support of the MacArthur Foundation, established the SEAKEYS program to designate and implement a long-term framework of monitoring and research on the Florida coral reef tract. This effort attempts to overcome the inability of short-term research programs to separate natural variability from human impact. program has four components: automated environmental monitoring, physical oceanography, coral community dynamics and nutrient studies. The environmental monitoring effort is obtaining real time meteorological and oceanographic data throughout the Keys.

The

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A major boost to meeting the research needs of the Florida reef tract came in 1991 when the National Undersea Research Center at the University of North Carolina initiated a Florida Keys Development Program for the purposes of providing technical and logistical support to scientists studying a variety of research topics in a diversity of environments. One of the objectives of this program is to initiate several long-term, multidisciplinary research projects throughout the reef tract in order to develop a long-term database. The Center currently operates a day boat program which supported 41 projects and over 100 scientists in 1991. The Aquarius underwater habitat is scheduled to begin operations in 1993. This unique research facility, to be located in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, will help to establish and support long-term research sites.

While the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary and Protection Act of 1990 may provide significant new protection measures for the environment in the Florida Keys, continuing research should be conducted to ensure that our management program is addressing the most critical components of this sensitive and vulnerable ecosystem. Responding to the need for baseline temperature data, NOAA placed a large number of recording thermographs on the bottom throughout the Keys at depths of 1-5 meters. These instruments continuously record and store temperature data throughout the year, to be retrieved and