195 
Abstract — A portion of the Oculina 
Bank located off eastern Florida is 
a marine protected area (MPA) pre- 
served for its dense populations of the 
ivory tree coral (Oculina varicosa), 
which provides important habitat 
for fish. Surveys of fish assemblages 
and benthic habitat were conducted 
inside and outside the MPA in 2003 
and 2005 by using remotely operated 
vehicle video transects and digital 
still imagery. Fish species composi- 
tion, biodiversity, and grouper densi- 
ties were used to determine whether 
O. varicosa forms an essential habitat 
compared to other structure-forming 
habitats and to examine the effective- 
ness of the MPA. Multivariate analy- 
ses indicated no differences in fish 
assemblages or biodiversity among 
hardbottom habitat types and grou- 
per densities were highest among the 
most complex habitats; however the 
higher densities were not exclusive to 
coral habitat. Therefore, we conclude 
that O. varicosa was functionally 
equivalent to other hardbottom habi- 
tats. Even though fish assemblages 
were not different among manage- 
ment areas, biodiversity and grouper 
densities were higher inside the MPA 
compared to outside. The percentage 
of intact coral was also higher inside 
the MPA. These results provide initial 
evidence demonstrating effectiveness 
of the MPA for restoring reef fish and 
their habitat. This is the first study 
to compare reef fish populations on O. 
varicosa with other structure-form- 
ing reef habitats and also the first 
to examine the effectiveness of the 
MPA for restoring fish populations 
and live reef cover. 
Manuscript submitted 26 March 2008. 
Manuscript accepted 14 November 2008. 
Fish. Bull 107:195-206 (2009). 
The views and opinions expressed 
or implied in this article are those 
of the author and do not necessarily 
reflect the position of the National 
Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA. 
Assessment of fish populations and habitat 
on Oculina Bank, a deep-sea coral marine 
protected area off eastern Florida 
Stacey L. Harter (contact author ) 1 
Marta M. Ribera 1 
Andrew N. Shepard 2 
John K. Reed 3 
Email address for contact author: stacey.harter@noaa.gov 
1 National Marine Fisheries Service 
Southeast Fisheries Science Center 
3500 Delwood Beach Rd 
Panama City, Florida 32408 
2 NOAA Undersea Research Center 
University of North Carolina at Wilmington 
5600 Marvin Moss Lane 
Wilmington, North Carolina 28409 
3 Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute 
Florida Atlantic University 
5600 U S. 1 North 
Ft Pierce, Florida 34946 
Like shallow tropical coral reefs, deep- 
sea coral habitats support important 
ecosystem functions, for example, 
as hotspots for biodiversity and bio- 
mass production (Husebo et al., 2002; 
Jonsson et al., 2004; George et al., 
2007) and as important fish habitat 
(Gilmore and Jones, 1992; Fossa et 
al., 2002; Ross and Quattrini, 2007). 
Like their shallow-water counter- 
parts, deep-sea coral ecosystems are 
affected by human activities. As har- 
vests have declined in shallow eco- 
systems, fishing pressure has moved 
further offshore (Watling and Norse, 
1998; Koslow et al., 2000; Roberts, 
2002), thus raising interest in deep- 
sea coral ecosystem protection. With 
the passage of the Magnuson-Ste- 
vens Fishery Management and Con- 
servation Act of 1996, an ecosystem 
approach to fishery management in 
the United States has been encour- 
aged by linking the preservation of 
essential fish habitat with protection 
of fishery resources. Reauthoriza- 
tion of the Act in 2006 mandated the 
conservation and studies of deep-sea 
coral ecosystems. These mandates are 
expected to lead to the increasing use 
of marine protected areas (MPAs) as 
a fishery management tool (Allison et 
al., 1998; Bohnsack, 1998; Guenette 
et al., 1998). 
One of the world’s first deep-sea 
coral ecosystems to be designated a 
marine protected area is located ap- 
proximately 37 km off Florida’s east 
coast in depths of 60-120 m. This 
area is known as the Oculina Bank, 
a series of reefs and high-relief bio- 
herms (thickets of live coral, capping 
mounds of sediment and coral rubble, 
built upon an underlying lithified 
base structure) constructed by the 
scleractinian ivory tree coral ( Ocu- 
lina varicosa). This species lives in 
water depths of 49 to 152 m without 
zooxanthellae and may form extensive 
thickets 1 m tall, which over thou- 
sands of years have built up mounds 
and ridges extending as much as 200 
m laterally and 35 m above the sur- 
rounding seafloor (Reed, 1980). These 
O. varicosa bioherms are known to 
exist only off the east coast of Florida 
from Ft. Pierce to St. Augustine, a 
stretch of almost 150 km along the 
edge of the Florida-Hatteras slope 
and beneath the western edge of the 
Gulf Stream. Surface water currents 
may exceed 150 cm/sec and bottom 
currents may exceed 50 cm/sec (Reed, 
2002a). Intact, live O. varicosa sup- 
