WEBVTT


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There's a unique


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spawning aggregation that occurs
at Carysfort Reef of black grouper.


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This is actually the first
spawning aggregation for black grouper


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that has been identified anywhere
in the southeastern United States.


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So by protecting this area,
by expanding the SPA into deeper water,


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we would be protecting
one of the most vulnerable life stages


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of this particular species, a species
that is very, very important.


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One of the issues with a lot of the corals
that occur in deeper water,


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they tend to grow very, very large,
but they're much more fragile


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because there's less light
at those depths.


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The corals that would normally form
sort of a boulder or a mounding structure


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tend to plate out more.


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They become very, very thin and large.


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And because of that,
they're really sensitive


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to any sort of damage from vessels.


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Like if you drop an anchor in there.


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And currently right


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now, there's quite a bit of fishing
that goes on in those offshore areas.


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And in some cases that involves
anchoring into that deeper habitat.


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So by expanding into 100 feet depth


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and we are going to be protecting
these female lobsters


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throughout their entire life


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and life history from when they first
settle out into the shallow habitat


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all the way through the period
when they are reproducing,


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they're able to reproduce
in their natural area


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where they would normally go
in deeper water without any fear of being


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preyed upon by humans.


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There's been continuous work


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done at this site, and a few years back
we identified two additional


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spawning aggregations that were just
to the west of Riley's hump,


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but they were outside of the existing


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boundary of this protected area.


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There's a cubera snapper there,


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and there's also a black grouper
spawning aggregation that we found.


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So that's the second


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black group responding aggregation that's
been identified anywhere within Florida.


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And so our proposal
is to expand the boundaries.


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I think it's about a mile


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to the west to basically protect
those two spawning aggregations