Context and challenge 

Puerto Rico’s Northeast Marine Corridor and Culebra Island is a 20+ mile corridor encompassing a wide array of ecosystems in a relatively small geographic area, including coastal mangrove forests, wetlands, perennially bioluminescent lagoons, seagrass beds, shallow and deep coral reefs, and miles of pristine nesting beaches (figure 1). The area supports more than 50 critical, rare, endemic and endangered species, including several marine species listed under the U.S. Endangered Species Act (e.g., West Indian manatee, sea turtles, Acropora corals, Nassau grouper) (NOAA, 2016). 

Figure 1. Northeast Marine Corridor and Culebra Island habitat types (NOAA Northeast Marine Corridor BIOMapper).

Because of its valuable ecosystem services, the Northeast Marine Corridor has been recognized as a culturally and economically important resource by Puerto Rico, United States, and NGOs alike. Despite the historic wealth in resources and close proximity to the capital, the region consists of the lowest average income in Puerto Rico; $300- $500 USD per week (US Bureau of Labor). With the decline of two historical cornerstones to Puerto Rico’s economy; a tourism market decreasing by 20% since 2017 (Macrotrends), and a withdrawal of medical device manufacturing, the local people face limited options to sustain livelihoods in the region. A decrease in income elsewhere can place larger burdens on marine resource extraction and use, with spillover effects into MPAs. 

Figure 2. Human Impact Index for Puerto Rico’s Northeast Marine Corridor and Culebra Island (Pittman et al. 2017).

MPAs were designated covering important coral habitat, but the region has experienced significant declines in the quality and extent of other key habitats necessary for sustaining the lifecycle needs of fish species that local people heavily depend on (Pittman et al. 2017). Much of the continued decline in habitat condition is attributed to anthropogenic stressors that fragment marine habitats outside of the designated MPAs, decreasing connectivity and system resilience. Stressors with the most effect include mangrove deforestation for coastal development, unsustainable recreation and tourism practices, continued unsustainable fishing practices, and the effects of climate change such as increased water temperatures (Pittman et al. 2017) (figure 2). Therefore, recent efforts have focussed largely on connecting marine reserves throughout the corridor and on decreasing anthropogenic stressors that fragment suitable habitats.

Approach 

Six marine and coastal natural reserves were designated within the Northeast Marine Corridor, including: four multiple-use reserves which restrict commercial fishing, and one no-take reserve (RN Canal Luis Peña) which was catalyzed by the Culebra Fisher’s Association, community members, local groups, and the scientific community. These MPAs protect valuable habitats for the region’s threatened and endangered species and the corridors they use to travel between habitat patches. In addition, the surrounding terrestrial region has approximately 122 special conservation areas of interest identified and protected by the DNER (figure 3). These surrounding terrestrial protected areas are important for preserving habitats like mangroves from destruction for coastal development and for protecting coastal reefs and seagrass beds from the suffocating effects of excess runoff and siltation. Local enthusiasm and collaboration in designation and knowledge-sharing was key to the successful implementation of these protected areas, particularly in the marine corridor.  

In 2015 the region was recognized as one of only ten NOAA Habitat Focus Areas under the NOAA Habitat Blueprint initiative, which gathered information using a combination of technology, surveying, and local knowledge. Making these data publicly available and accessible to a range of audiences was key to ensuring informed MPA planning and management, based on corridor conservation. To do this, NOAA launched a Northeast Marine Corridor BIOMapper, a fully interactive, online feature designed to let users explore benthic habitat mapping data. The map feature provides resource managers, scientists, and the public increased understanding and technical capacity for management and stewardship with best available knowledge. 

Results 

Where people are highly dependent on marine resources both for food and financial gain, efforts that include the local community in collaboration with the State can preserve important marine habitats necessary for system function while maintaining local livelihood needs. 

Because impacts on marine life have been shown to increase in severity outside of MPA boundaries, recent efforts include methods that help boost system resilience, buffer the MPAs through sustainable fishing and ecotourism practices, and preserve entire ecosystems while sustaining local livelihoods. In particular, building on the NOAA Habitat Blueprint Initiative, scientists identified species ecological connectivity as an important area to research, as it will further inform effective conservation practices beyond corridor protection. Methods like three-dimensional hydrodynamic models of current circulation used with particle tracking models which incorporate organism behavior will help managers to identify the movement of organisms across the region, particularly coral larvae, for holistic system protection (Pittman et al. 2017).

Figure 3. Marine and terrestrial protected areas contributing to conservation and decreased human impact in the northeast marine corridor (federal and non-federal) (Pittman et al. 2017).

Because land-based activities contribute largely to the conditions seen in marine environments, efforts are ongoing to include surveys for human use and pollution source mapping, which will aid in estimating carrying capacity across the spatially complex region. Notably, where runoff and siltation from land impact marine environments, 13 watershed management plans are being drafted. Plans consist of watershed restoration projects to reduce sediment and/or nutrient loadings from urban parking lots and stormwater drainage sites, cattle farms, eroding stream banks, and under-treated sewage sites, decreasing pollution into important marine reserves that sustain fish stocks (NOAA Northeast Marine Corridor BIOMapper). 

References 

Cabral, R.E., S.D. Gaines, M.T. Lim, M.P. Atrigenio, S.S. Mamaug, G.C. Pedemonte, and P.M. Aliño. 2016. Siting marine protected areas based on habitat quality and extent provides the greatest benefit to spatially structured metapopulations. Ecosphere 7: e015333. https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.1533.

Macrotrends. Puerto Rico Tourism Statistics 1995-2020. https://www.macrotrends.net/countries/PRI/puerto-rico/tourism-statistics#:~:text=Puerto%20Rico%20tourism%20statistics%20for,a%203.9%25%20increase%20from%202015. 

NOAA. 2016. An Implementation Framework for NOAA’s Habitat Blueprint Focus Area in the Caribbean-The Northeast Marine Corridor and Culebra Island, Puerto Rico. 

NOAA’s Habitat Blueprint Focus Area in the Caribbean: Northeast Marine Corridor and Culebra Island, Puerto Rico. https://www.habitatblueprint.noaa.gov/habitat-focus-areas/puerto-rico/. 

NOAA Northeast Marine Corridor BIOMapper. https://maps.coastalscience.noaa.gov/biomapper/biomapper.html?id=prne. 

Pittman, S.J., C.F.G. Jeffrey, C. Menza, G. Kågesten, A. Orthmeyer, D.S. Dorfman, D. Mateos-Molina, A. Mabrouk, S.D. Hile, V. Ransibrahmanakul, and A. Ramos Álvarez. 2017. Mapping Ecological Priorities and Human Impacts to Support Land-Sea Management of Puerto Rico’s Northeast Marine Corridor. NOAA Technical Memorandum NOS NCCOS 218. Silver Spring, MD. 71 pp. doi:10.7289/V5/TM-NOS-NCCOS-218 

Storms, D.M., F.W. Davis, S. Andelman, and M. Carr.  2005. Integrated Coastal Reserve Planning: Making the Land-Sea Connection. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 3(8):429. DOI:10.2307/3868659.  

US Bureau of Labor. 2019. County Employment and Wages in Puerto Rico. https://www.bls.gov/regions/new-york-new-jersey/news-release/2019/countyemploymentandwages_puertorico_20190418.htm.