Reef Monitoring

[printfriendly]A non-profit organization relies on an army of underwater volunteers to help safeguard local marine species

By Marcia Biggs

[su_pullquote align=”right”]Top photo by Marcia Biggs

Heyward Mathews pulls aboard a larval light trap that was set the previous night at an artificial reef off Clearwater. Monica Lara, right, will later work with biology students to study the contents in the trap. [/su_pullquote]The first rays of dawn have yet to appear as Heyward Mathews guides his 30-foot boat through the inky darkness into the Gulf of Mexico. Aboard this early morning in May are Monica Lara, a biology professor at St. Petersburg College, four biology students, an array of scuba and snorkel gear, and scientific monitoring devices.

As we head out beneath the Clearwater Beach Causeway and into the open water, Mathews pulls back on the throttle and in 15 minutes we have reached our destination just as dawn breaks on the horizon.

The location is one Mathews knows well – an artificial reef some three miles offshore. About 26 feet below us, students will dive to retrieve two specimen collection “light traps” that had been laid the previous night; not far away we’ll stop at a natural ledge to retrieve another trap.

[easy-media med=”4478″ size=”300,300″ align=”right”]Inside the trap’s PVC tubing is an LED light which, when placed near the reef at night, attracts larvae and other tiny marine critters. The larval light traps were invented, modified, and re-invented by Lara and her husband, David Jones, a research scientist at the University of South Florida. As the units are handed aboard, Lara opens each one and pours the contents into a filter bag. Her trained eyes spot the minute larvae and other specimens she was hoping to see. She places the contents into jars of saltwater. Once we return, she’ll drive directly to the lab at St. Petersburg College where she will label and store them for research.

Work finished, Mathews turns the boat toward shore, revs the engines and we set off back to Clearwater as the morning sun greets us head on.

It’s all in a day’s work for Mathews and Reef Monitoring, Inc., the non-profit organization he formed in 2005 to study and research artificial and natural reefs.

Mathews has been diving, dipping, fishing, hauling, baiting, teaching and masterminding for more than four decades. In Florida, he’s considered a rock star in marine research by most everyone in the field. An adjunct professor of oceanography at St. Petersburg College, he has taught scuba for more than 40 years, certifying more than 1,500 students. In 1972, he co-founded what is today the Clearwater Marine Aquarium by converting an old water treatment plant into a marine science center.

In the early 1970s, Mathews started the Pinellas County Artificial Reef Program, conceiving and building one of Clearwater’s first artificial reefs. Of course, being an innovator means trial and error, and designing artificial reefs was no exception.

“It took two years to fund and build that reef,” recalls Mathews in his rapid-fire no-nonsense way of speaking. “We used approximately 250,000 tires filled with concrete, which we thought at the time was a good way to recycle. And they were very effective, they attracted lots of fish. But later we discovered the tires washing ashore after a storm. Now it’s forbidden to use tires for reefs.”

Even Einstein faced a few failures now and then.

Getting started

As president of Reef Monitoring Inc., Mathews sets the direction and oversees a board of five members whose mission is two-fold: innovative research and study of Florida’s artificial and natural reefs, and to establish baseline data on reef populations.

This data can be used for a variety of purposes such as providing an economic value of resources, assessing the health of fish stocks and even an early warning of exotic species invasion, contamination or pollution.

Assisting Mathews at the helm of Reef Monitoring is board member and younger protégé, Sean Patterson, a “get-er-done” multi-tasker who juggles everything from organizing reef cleanups to handling finances and updating the web site and Facebook page. Patterson has been working side-by-side with Mathews since 2005 when, as an undergrad at the University of South Florida, they studied the recovery of one natural reef and one artificial reef off Pinellas County after a severe red tide bloom killed not only massive numbers of fish but almost all of the marine reef life.

“At that time, there was a real threat of drilling just nine miles off the coast and the occurrence of red tide which made us acutely aware that we needed to establish a baseline set of data across a wide area that could be used for comparison,” says Patterson. “In case of a disaster like another red tide or oil spill, we needed to have some statistics to fall back on.”

And so was born Reef Monitoring, Inc.

Partnerships important

To achieve its missions, Reef Monitoring, Inc. relies on partnerships with the biology department at St. Petersburg College in Clearwater and the University of South Florida, local dive shops and captains, marine conservation groups, local businesses and governmental organizations, and volunteers from dive clubs and the sport fishing community.

Major research projects include sediment sampling on the sea floor around the reefs and the use of light traps to study new and existing organisms that collect on natural and artificial reefs. Funding comes mainly from grants, such as a recent grant for nearly $19,000 from Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to study larval fish. But the organization’s core responsibility is establishing the baseline reef data and it relies mainly on volunteer sport divers.

Regular dive training is offered for survey counts performed at five study reefs off Pinellas County. The survey is a checklist of 24 fish species including grouper, snook, snapper, barracuda, flounder, hogfish, sea bass and lionfish, plus 13 invertebrates such as sea urchin and crabs. Data is uploaded directly onto the Reef Monitoring web site where it is stored in an archive for future analysis.

“We are looking for easily recognized and economically important species from a fisheries standpoint,” explains Mathews. “We also take into account any recent events such as red tide or an oil spill. By establishing baseline data of resident fish populations, we can monitor these events and look for evidence of species decline.”

At a training class in early August, two dozen divers and trainers gathered at the Long Center in Clearwater for instruction and to perform simulated survey dives in the pool.

“The training is very basic but also very useful,” says Patterson, as he sets up the pool for survey practice. “We want to make it simple enough for even beginner divers.”

Many at the training are experienced survey divers who have come for a refresher course. Among them are Rob Mancuso and Tim Fagley, veteran sport divers and spear fishermen who head out nearly every Sunday to perform dive surveys for Reef Monitoring.

“As spear fishermen, it’s something we really enjoy doing,” says Mancuso. “And we know how important it is to study the marine ecology, so it’s really a labor of love.”

Cleanups and roundups

[easy-media med=”4587″ size=”300,300″ align=”right”]Annual reef cleanups have been a mainstay for Reef Monitoring, when partner groups and volunteers remove large amounts of trash and debris from the reefs. But this year, a foreign invader caused a change in plans.

A “Lionfish Roundup” was held May 10 off Clearwater Beach in which local spear fishermen were solicited to kill and turn in the invasive fish. It was a call to action after reports of increasing lionfish population off the coast of Southwest Florida.

Lionfish are voracious eaters – they consume 20 to 25 small fish a day — and can destroy a reef, says Patterson. And their venomous needle-like spines make them difficult to capture. “Lionfish compete with native species and have no known enemies,” he explains. “They can quickly disrupt the ecology of reefs, both natural and artificial. It’s important that we get a handle on the problem as soon as possible.”

Some 97 divers registered for the Roundup but due to severe weather only seven divers turned in a total of 64 lionfish. A team of students weighed, measured and later dissected them for research. Hoping for better weather, another “Lionfish Rodeo” was held in September with support from the Guy Harvey Outpost on St. Pete Beach. This all-out search and destroy mission brought out 98 divers who turned in 463 lionfish.

Lab research

At St. Petersburg College’s Clearwater campus, students majoring in biology are valued participants in Reef Monitoring research. This semester 10 students are actively diving and performing lab research, from sediment sampling to larval fish monitoring and algae identification.

One recent morning, Lara was supervising three students in the lab as they peered into microscopes surrounded by test tubes and notebooks. Brittany Barbara was dissecting tiny lionfish odeletes (ear drums) from a recent lionfish roundup.

“By slicing into the odeletes, we can determine the age of the lionfish,” she explained. “It’s kind of like slicing a tree trunk and counting the layers.”

At another microscope, Alexandra Contreras was working to identify teeny larval fish that had been collected from the light traps around the reefs. Latia Scott was sorting tiny fragments of sediment from around the reef— bits of coral, shells and rock— into neat piles.

“What we are trying to do is document over time the various types of sediment and marine life that are attracted to the reefs,” explains Lara.

“As they age, a new ecosystem emerges with more and different organisms from larval fish to invertebrates. Are they creating a new ecosystem? We are always looking for new samples and diversity.”

If you are a sport diver and would like to help Reef Monitoring, go to reefmonitoring.org or write to info@reefmonitoring.org.

Marcia Biggs is a freelance writer living in Safety Harbor, FL

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