Tortugas 2000 Update

[Ben Haskell]

Dear CMPAN and Coral listers-

Tortugas 2000 is a collaborative project to create an ecological reserve
(no-take) in the Tortugas region of the Florida Keys National Marine
Sanctuary.

A 25-member working group composed of a broad range of stakeholders and
agency representatives was tasked a year ago with coming up with a
recommended boundary alternative for NOAA and the State of Florida to
consider.

Last Saturday, May 22, the Working Group reached consensus on
recommending that a 186 square nautical mile area representing a range
of very high quality coral reef habitats be set aside for the benefit of
the ecosystem and present and future generations.  After 7 years of
acrimonious debate about the utility of marine reserves in the Florida
Keys, one of the most heavily used coral reef ecosystems in the world,
this consensus recommendation represents a milestone in Sanctuary
management.

If you would like more details on this recommendation and the Tortugas
2000 project please visit our website at http://fpac.fsu.edu/tortugas.

Thank you,
Benjamin D. Haskell
Project Manager and Science Coordinator
http://www.sanctuaries.nos.noaa.gov
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