NCCOS Project Explorer (NPE)

Baseline Assessment of Guanica Bay, Puerto Rico in Support of Watershed Restoration(2010)

Project Description:
This project will provide a baseline ecological and pollutant stressor assessment of Guanica Bay and the adjacent reef ecosystems, in support of a watershed restoration project design. The Guánica Bay Watershed Management Plan (GBWMP) explicitly identifies a number of land-based sources of pollution (LBSP) affecting Guánica Bay and the surrounding coral reef ecosystem and defines recommendations for habitat restoration and monitoring to improve management of LBSP. In the Guánica watershed a number of critical issues were identified in the GBWMP that are key in terms of LBSP affecting the near shore coral reefs in the areas surrounding the Guánica Bay. These include: Upland erosion in the Coffee growing regions; Filling of reservoirs with sediment and resulting downstream transport of these sediments; In-stream channel erosion; Draining of Guánica Lagoon; Legacy Contaminants; and Potentially Inadequate Sewage Treatment. The GBWMP identifies recommendations, partners, and next steps towards implementation to address land-use and land-use change, nutrient and sediment runoff, sewage treatment, streambank stabilization, buffer improvements, and improved sediment and erosion control. This project will work with NOAA and PR partners to initiate a prioritization of activities identified in the GBWMP. A 3-year project will strategically evaluate, design, and implement a watershed restoration project to reduce the effects of LBSP. The project will begin in FY09 with a two-pronged approach. One element will include efforts to characterize reef communities and the chemical/biological stressors to inform decision-making as well as serve as a baseline to quantify the effectiveness of the implemented project. Concurrent with characterization, an evaluation and feasibility analysis of the top projects identified in the GBWMP will be initiated. Sediment contaminants, coral tissues contaminants, sediment traps and water column nutrients will be measured in the watershed, in the Bay and in the coral reef ecosystems adjacent to the Bay starting in June 2009.

Expected Outcome:
The first year of the project will provide a characterization of benthic habitats in the coral reef ecosystem outside of Guánica Bay, and a quantitative assessment of nutrients and sediments entering the Bay and impacting the adjacent coral reefs. Samples of corals will also be collected in the reef areas and quantified for chemical contaminants and coral pathogens. This information will provide critical baseline information for the watershed and adjacent coral reefs which will be used to measure the efficacy of the restoration project implemented. This project will also be a pilot effort for collaborative work among NOAA offices, along with local partners to advance watershed management planning efforts by supporting specific implementation activities. It is hoped that this model of cooperative work can be replicated in other priority watersheds in the future to more efficiently and effectively focus and utilize limited (NOAA and jurisdiction) resources. Moreover, the characterization of sediments, nutrients and other contaminant inputs into Guánica Bay, watershed modeling, and an assessment of benthic habitats and biological resources in the reef areas, will provide valuable, hard data to present to other local and federal agency partners to leverage additional support to realize some tangible on-the-ground projects to control LBSP that is damaging the reefs.