[Coral-List] NOAA Report about Port Miami Dredging

[Steven L Miller]

Dear Dr. Nohora

**

It is well-known that dredging can harm corals, but the NOAA report you 
cited about Port Miami is not the definitive impact statement about 
corals during the dredging project. The additional references below 
provide essential context to evaluate the causes and amount of coral 
mortality, potential mitigation costs, and the design of future dredge 
projects in Florida.


I'm sure that you would agree that stakeholders including Federal 
agencies should frame their views and establish policy based on all of 
the science.

Best Regards

Steven Miller

**

*Unprecedented Disease-Related Coral Mortality in Southeastern Florida. 
(2016)*Precht, W., Gintert, B., Robbart, M. /et al.//Sci Rep/6, 31374 
(2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/srep31374

*Regional coral disease outbreak overwhelms impacts from a local dredge 
project. (2019)*Gintert, B.E., Precht, W.F., Fura, R. /et al/

/Environ Monit Assess/191, 630 (2019). 
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-019-7767-7 
<https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-019-7767-7>

*Miami harbor deep dredge project: a reappraisal reveals same results. 
(2019)*Precht, W. F., Gintert, B., Fura, R., Rogers, K., Robbart, M., & 
Dial, S. Miami harbor deep dredge project: a reappraisal reveals same 
results. /WEDA Dredging Summit & Expo ‘19 Proceedings/, Chicago, IL 
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/William_Precht/publication/333666959 
<https://www.researchgate.net/profile/William_Precht/publication/333666959_MIAMI_HARBOR_DEEP_DREDGE_PROJECT_A_REAPPRAISAL_REVEALS_SAME_RESULTS/links/5cfc4f69299bf13a38489202/MIAMI-HARBOR-DEEP-DREDGE-PROJECT-A-REAPPRAISALREVEALS-SAME-RESULTS.pdf>

*Multi-Variate Analyses of Coral Mortality From the 2014–2015 Stony 
Coral Tissue Loss Disease Outbreak Off Miami-Dade County, Florida. 
(2021) *Spadafore, R, Fura, R, Precht, W, Vollmer, S.

Front. Mar. Sci. Vol 8. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.723998

*Coral persistence despite marginal conditions in the Port of Miami. 
(2023)*Enochs, I.C., Studivan, M.S., Kolodziej, G. /et al.//Sci Rep/13, 
6759. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-33467-7 
<https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-33467-7>



_____________

Dear Colleagues,

In messages of last year, some restoration practitioners were mentioning
that it is not proven the negative impacts of dredging on coral reefs.
Other coral-listers were asking about the final report on Port of Miami
Dredging Impact on Corals written by NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries
Service (NMFS). Here we share it:
https://es.scribd.com/document/669975874/NOAA-report-on-Port-Miami-dredging-impact-on-corals

NOAA, NMFS, 2023, Report,
Examination of Sedimentation Impacts to Coral Reef along the Port Miami
Entrance
Channel, December 2015 and April 2016. *Released *
August 29, 2023 It provides empirical field-based evidence linking deeper
sediment deposits and changes in coral reef bottom cover to dredging that
occurredat Port Miami from 2013 to 2015. reflects a finding that 278 acres
of corals were killed in the Phase III dredging project in Port Miami in
2015.