EVALUATION OF FISH POPULATIONS ADJACENT TO BORROW AREAS OF 
BEACH NOURISHMENT PROJECT, HALLANDALE 
(BROWARD COUNTY) , FLORIDA 
by 
Walter R. Courtenay, Jr. 
Ben C. Harttg 
and 
Gerard R. Lotselt 
I. INTRODUCTION 
For several years, a significant number of beaches along 
the southeastern coast of Florida have undergone severe erosion 
(U.S. Army Engineer District, Jacksonville, 1965). A major beach 
nourishment and restoration program in this area, the Broward 
County Beach Erosion Control Project, was authorized by the Rivers 
and Harbors Act of 27 October 1965. One segment of the project, 
Hallandale in southeastern Broward County, was nourished with 
offshore sand between 21 July and 21 September 1971. Courtenay, 
et al. (1973, 1974) noted damage by dredging activities off 
Hallandale to an extensive area of offshore patch reefs extending 
out to and including the offshore edge of the second reef platform. 
Damage was reported as being most evident within a radius of 400 
to 800 meters of the borrow area; however, a reevaluation of data 
indicates the area of damage was between 130 and 220 meters of the 
nearest borrow area, encompassing an area of approximately 2.5 
square kilometers. The reef damage was attributed to rehandling 
of fill material, to the type of dredging equipment used, and to a 
piece of dredging equipment that overturned in a storm (Courtenay, 
et al., 1973, 1974). Algae and permanently attached bivalve 
mollusks were killed by burial. Soft corals were not affected but 
hard corals showed substantial damage. Motile species such as 
lobsters, crabs, shrimps, and fishes apparently left the area during 
dredging but began to reappear within 4 months following cessation 
of dredging activities. 
This study assesses the status of fish populations within 
the borrow areas, in areas of reef damage, and adjacent areas 
within approximately 0.5 kilometer from the borrow areas off 
Hallandale, 7 years after dredging. The data were compared with 
those obtained during a previous study (Courtenay, et al., 1974). 
Although the assessment techniques used in the 1971-72 
study differ from those used during this project, valid comparisons 
were made. The 1971-72 study was conducted using the ichthyocide 
