soft coral species and to issue coral collecting permits for hard and soft 

 coral for scientific and educational purposes. It proposes to prohibit all 

 taking of corals vrithin the suggested 1 sq nm Habitat Area of Particular 

 Concern. 



The perpetuation of the status quo would allow all coral collecting to 

 continue unless and until the FMP is approved and implemented. This could 

 result in adverse ecological consequences to the reef system and to those 

 valuable commercial and recreational species depending on it for habitat. 



2. Prohibit the collection or possession of all coral, living or 

 dead within the sanctuary under all boundary alternatives but 

 permit the collection of coral for scientific and educational 

 purposes: PREFERRED ALTERNATIVE" 



This alternative would protect present and future coral resources while 

 permitting coral specimen collecting for educational and scientific purposes 

 under permit from NOAA. Since the current level of commercial coral collec- 

 ting is insignificant in the proposal area the economic impact of this 

 alternative will be negligible. The proposed restriction is more stringent 

 than that being considered in the Coral FMP in that the latter permits limited 

 harvest of soft coral outside the 1 nm sq HAPC. 



NOAA personnel would be needed to review the permits required by this 

 alternative thereby increasing the staff workload and detracting from other 

 duties. This alternative would also increase the responsibilities of enforce- 

 ment personnel . 



A regulation similar to this proposed for the sanctuary is presently in 

 force in John Pennekamp State Park and in the Key Largo Marine Sanctuary. As 

 discussed in Chapter Three, the inclusion of a provision prohibiting posses- 

 sion of coral, dead or alive, within the proposed boundaries has resulted in 

 few enforcement difficulties within these two protected areas. On the other 

 hand, Florida State law, applicable in the territorial sea, does not prohibit 

 possession of cleaned or cured specimens of sea fans, hard and soft corals or 

 fire coral and enforcement difficulty has arisen because these organisms can 

 be quickly killed and bleached on board ship before enforcement agents can 

 board for inspection (Tingley, personal communication, 1979). 



Protecting the Looe Key coral reef system by prohibiting the taking of 

 coral except for scientific and educational purposes will: 



° maintain the coral as an important producer of sand, a 

 renewable resource which comes from dead coral, 



° maintain the high primary productivity which produces 



oxygen for the support of organisms living in the vicinity; 



maintain these reefs as gene pools for future cclonizatipn of 

 adjacent coral areas; 



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