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Welcome
to the Columbus Iselin Reef Restoration
site-- here you'll find up-to-date information
about the restoration and learn about what's
involved with the restoration of one of America's
most significant coastal barrier coral reefs. Reef
restoration after a large vessel grounding within a
unique marine protected area like the Florida Keys
National Marine Sanctuary is one of the many
significant management challenges faced by the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration.
Current
Field Status Report
provides a regular update on the current phase of
the project (below).
Project
Overview
The
R/V Columbus Iselin, a 155-foot research
vessel owned by the University of Miami, went
aground on an ancient coral reef in Looe Key
National Marine Sanctuary just before midnight on
August 10, 1994. (Looe Key National Marine
Sanctuary is now part of the Florida Keys National
Marine Sanctuary and lies about five nautical miles
southwest of Big Pine Key.) The vessel remained on
the reef for 38 hours. Injury assessments
immediately afterward showed extensive damage to
four spurs of the reef, as well as significant
debris in the surrounding area. NOAA will be
reconstructing these four spurs during this
project. The grounding destroyed 163.88 square meters
of living coral and 338 square meters of the reef
framework, killing or displacing large numbers of
hard corals, sea fans, sponges, fish and other
marine creatures. This was further exacerbated by
storm damage.
Whenever
a grounding occurs within a national marine
sanctuary, NOAA can seek damages to cover response,
injury and damage assessment, restoration and
replacement of the damaged habitat or acquisition
of equivalent habitat, and compensation of the
public for the value of the damaged resources until
full recovery. The University of Miami settled with
NOAA for $3.76 million in natural resource damage
claims for the Columbus Iselin grounding,
including a $200,000 civil penalty. The settlement
includes funds for physical and biological
restoration and monitoring of the Columbus
Iselin site, as well as compensatory
restoration and monitoring (such as grounding
prevention) elsewhere in the sanctuary .
This
site provides you with detailed information on the
project including technical specifications,
introduces you to the people involved, provides
maps and images of the restoration site, and shares
current information from the restoration site
itself. The restoration takes place between July
12th and September 7th. Updates will be provided on
a 4-7 day basis.
Lisa
Symons, Project Coordinator
(top)
Field Status Reports
July
31, 1999
Thirty-two
cubic yards of concrete was shipped out to the
barge via the landing craft. Tremie pours were
conducted on both July 31 and August 1 on Site "E."
With the remaining boulders being placed to grade
on the site. An unavoidable "blowout" of concrete
occurred through an unseen opening in the sediment,
this spilled a small amount of tremie concrete into
the adjacent sand channel. Cleanup of this will
take place after completion of the restoration
work.
August
1, 1999
The
Kane Film and Video LLC film crew contracted to
NOAA starts filming restoration work. Water clarity
and visibility was extremely good, waves were calm.
The team finished several tremie pours and placed
most of the surface dressing or topping boulders on
Site "E". Click
here to see recent images from the restoration
site.
August
3, 1999
Thunderstorms,
lightning and high winds forced the barge to pull
off the site and retreat to the storm anchor
mid-day. One of the mooring points was damaged and
will have to be replaced.
August
4, 1999
The
project team located and placed a new mooring point
for the barge and also located and placed a mooring
point for the inspection boats on site. The barge
remains on the storm anchor. The rest of the
project team returned to shore to catch up on
paperwork and get supplies.
August
5, 1999
The
barge moved off the storm anchor and into Key West
(Stock Island) to pick up more concrete and other
supplies and to ride out the weather. The team is
expected to move back on site tomorrow.
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(top)
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