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One Year Assessment of the Health of Coral and Fish Assemblages in the National Marine Park of Fernando de Noronha, PE, Brazil

Cristiana Damiano, Lisandro Almeida, Claudio Bellini and Sergio Salvati

Projeto Tamar-PE; WWF-Brasil, FERNANDO DE NORONHA, BRAZIL

Theme: TH4

Decreed as a National Marine Park in 1988, the Archipelago of Fernando de Noronha comprises 22 islands that span an area of 112.7 km². The waters surrounding these islands support a large assemblage of taxa, including more than 100 species of fish; 11 species of corals; marine mammals such as spinner-dolphins; sharks, and endangered species such as the hawksbill and green turtles. Because of this abundant marine life and excellent underwater visibility, the Archipelago is fast gaining a reputation as a prime destination for recreational SCUBA divers (currently 30 000 divers visit the Archipelago each year and this is increasing), both at national and international levels. Activities such as fishing and collecting are not permitted and so the main concern is the potential disruption to coral reefs owing to high densities of divers across small spatial and temporal scales. Recently, steps were initiated to start a preliminary monitoring program to describe and quantify the impact of recreational diving on the marine environment. This work involves non-destructive techniques (linear transects and visual census) to monitor the actual conditions of two major reef sites, and to provide preliminary data on their status and viability. The information obtained from this will be used to develop an effective management strategy for the National Marine Park.