Public Comment, U.S. Coral Reef Task Force

Palm Beach CountyREEF RESCUEP.O. Box 207Boynton Beach, Florida 33425(561) 699-8559Email: etichscuba@aol.comwww.reef-rescue.org______________________________________________________________________________________February 13, 2009U.S. Coral Reef Task Force CoordinatorNOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program1305 East-West Highway, N/OCRM, Rm. 10405Silver Spring, MD 20910Re: Advance Public CommentThe reefs of the southeast Florida coast and Palm Beach County in particular, suffer from a lackof an effective management structure. Below are four examples, all of which occurred within thelast year, which exemplify how the lack of management has resulted in negative impacts to whatare arguably some of the best of Florida’s remaining coral reefs.Example 1: Gulf Stream Reef Lyngbya BloomIn August 2008, Palm Beach County Reef Rescue (PBCRR) volunteer divers identified a reefarea encompassing several acres severely impacted by a Lyngbya bloom. PBCRR requestedassistance from the FDEP Coral Reef Conservation Program office (SEFCRI) to survey the extentand impact to the benthos. Initially, SEFCRI staff began to develop a protocol to perform thework, however due to workload no action by SEFCRI was taken. PBCRR received a SpecialActivity License (SAL) from Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission (FWC) to collect seafan/Lyngbya and send samples on a monthly basis to the FWC, St. Petersburg, FL laboratory.There have been no regulatory agency actions to document, assess ...