Abstract
Reef fish populations are essential parts of the coral reef ecosystems in the United States Virgin Islands and provide economic, ecological, and cultural importance to the region. Closely monitoring these populations is necessary to manage and preserve these resources. Analyses were used to determine which areas of Buck Island National Monument (BUIS), in the waters surrounding the island of St. Croix, should be recommended for the independent long-term fixed site fish monitoring protocol for the National Park Service (NPS). This independent monitoring program should highlight and incorporate the needs and responsibilities of park management within BUIS and recommend the implementation of permanent fixed monitoring sites. This project used data from previous years reef visual consensus surveys (RVC) to create cumulative percent density graphs, hot spot maps, and interpolated heat maps of fish density for important reef fish species such as groupers, snappers, triggerfish, and parrotfish at depths ranging from 0 ≤ 30 meters. Hot spot layers were created for each family of reef fish populations displaying hot and cold spots of focal species around the southeastern part of BUIS. The cumulative percent density graphs for the grouper/seabass, grunt, jack, parrotfish, snapper, and surgeonfish families had at least one focal species contributing to fifty percent of the family’s overall density. Interpolated heat maps and bathymetry/depth maps indicated a similar trend which showed all significant diversity hot and cold spots occurred within shallow habitats on the coastal shelf with moderate to high hardbottom cover comprised of patch reefs with moderate to minimal coral cover surrounded by sand and seagrass. Thirty recommended survey site locations for BUIS’s long-term fish monitoring protocol were proposed based on fish density hotspots, cumulative percent density graphs indicating species driving the density within each family, the five primary coral reef ecosystem attributes, and location. Investigations into the location of density hot spots for focal species found in and around BUIS showed the type of biological substrate present at each site. Park enforcement along diverse sites in the southeastern part of the park is recommended due to its proximity to open fishing areas.