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The regions of Biscayne Bay sampled in the FIAN project are highlighted in yellow and
blue. The Port of Miami (POM) study area, highlighted in blue, is enlarged to show the
30-cell hexagonal grid used in FIAN. Area bounded in red in the insert is the Bill
Sadowski Critical Wildlife Area (BSCWA), which is designated as a no-entry zone.
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Figure 3. Map of the POM FIAN sample location boundaries and significant land marks
within the Port of Miami. The 30-cell hexagonal grids highlighted by location type:
Miami City East Coast (red), East Coast Grass patch (dark green), No Entry Zone
Virginia Key Grass patch (light green), Channel through center of basin (blue), and the
channel and Cuts South of Port Islands (yellow). Site 30 was relocated from 30-a to 30-b
in 2008 due to the large amount of land within the grid.
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1.4.2 Miami Port Economic Importance to South Florida
The Port of Miami is one of the most significant economic generators for South
Florida and is owned and operated by the Seaport Department of Miami-Dade County
(CDMP 2011). It is on the list of top 10 cargo container ports in the United States and is
the largest container port in Florida (USACE 2007). The Port of Miami has the dual
distinction of “Cruise Capital of the World” and “Cargo Gateway of the Americas”
(USACE 2007) because it is among an elite group of ports in the world that caters to both
cruise ships and containerized cargo (CDMP 2011). The Port of Miami has more than 35
shipping lines calling on over 100 countries and over 254 ports (USACE 2004).
The total economic impact of the Port of Miami operations on the nation is
estimated at more than $8 billion per year with more than 45,000 jobs directly or
indirectly attributable to the Port operations (USACE 2004). To facilitate the efficient
movement of goods and passengers, the port also utilizes the local, regional, and interregional transportation network components consisting of roads, railway lines, and
channels (USACE 2004). With Miami-Dade County’s population estimated at 2.5
million people as of 2010 (BBAP 2012) the value of the shipping port on the economy
becomes even greater. The harbor and surrounding area is of great importance to the
recreational, social, economic, and cultural life of South Florida (Caccia and Boyer
2005). Historical population trends in Florida have shown that Miami-Dade County has
continuously had the largest population since 1970 (FDH 2012).
1.4.3 Port Expansion: 2012 Deep Dredge Project
To meet future challenges in Miami-Dade County and the South Florida region,
the Port of Miami will continue its sustainable growth through the development of the
cargo, cruise and commercial entities (CDMP 2011). The Deep Dredge, Panama Canal
project was proposed to accommodate larger ships in the Port of Miami (Miami-Dade
2012). Under the management of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), the
harbor entrance channel was widened from 500 to 800 feet and deepened from 42 feet to
50/52 feet (2011b), allowing the port to become the only global logistic hub south of
Virginia capable of handling the bigger post-Panamax vessels (Miami-Dade 2012).
Miami-Dade invested over $1 billion in capital infrastructure projects to transform the
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port. The dredging of the port began in August 2013 and was completed in July 2015, for
the June 2016 opening of the expanded Panama Canal (Miller et al. 2016).
Direct and indirect impacts to the seagrasses in Florida have been attributed
mainly to increased urbanization and coastal development, which in turn has created
sewage pollution, eutrophication, sedimentation and destructive motor vessel activity
(Littler et al. 1989; Sargent et al. 1995; Hall et al. 1999; Carruthers et al. pers. comm.
2007; Short et al. 2010a; Short et al. 2010b; BBAP 2012). The major consequence of
these activities is reduced water clarity and quality as well as physical destruction of
habitat. The resuspension of sediments and the introduction of nutrients from runoff and
pollutants from damaged structures (e.g. landfills, water treatment plants and
ports/marinas) can affect the water quality (Tilmant et al. 1994; Davis et al. 2004).
Physical damage can also occur from vessel groundings and scarring of the bottom with
propellers. Monitoring and protection of the region has been extensive in POM over the
years with the hope of preventing further damage to the marine habitat. The dredging
project is expected to place additional stress on adjacent seagrasses only over the shortterm (USACE 2004). From past field observations and assessment of historic aerial
photography, the dredging is not expended to have a long-term negative impact on the
seagrass beds outside the limits of the direct and indirect impacts of construction
(USACE 2004). The new dredging is expected to only impact the seagrass habitats
immediately adjacent to dredging activities and they may experience direct loss and
reduced functional values (USACE 2004). Increased turbidity and sedimentation are
expected to have indirect impacts in areas where they occur over seagrasses (USACE
2004).
1.5 Study Objectives & Hypotheses
In South Florida, natural disturbances, combined with the consistently growing
coastal population demands and an economy based on marine-related tourism have
created the need to monitor and protect the seagrass community (Collado-Vides et. al
2007). Dredge and fill activities in Miami have altered areas of Biscayne Bay with
channels too deep for seagrass growth (Hefty et al. 2001). Despite the development that
has taken place, there still are areas with abundant submerged aquatic vegetation
consisting of seagrass and macroalgae species and mangrove fringe forests (Sweeney
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2011). The bay is highly productive and supports many protected, threatened and
endangered species including the Florida manatee (Trichechus manatus latirostris), the
smalltooth sawfish (Pristis pectinata), five species of sea turtle, bottlenose dolphins, the
American crocodile, (USACE 2007; Caccia and Boyer 2005) and Johnson’s seagrass
(Halophila johnsonii) (BBAP 2012). Loss of these benthic-vegetated habitats could
result in loss of species richness and abundance (Bloomfield and Gillanders 2005).
Water quality and the health of seagrass communities have been linked in many
locations around the world; as water quality has deteriorated, seagrass communities have
been lost (Cambridge et al. 1986; Orth and Moore 1983). It is important to document the
habitats and environmental conditions in order to understand how they may be changing.
Humans have placed increasing pressure on seagrasses and the concern is that these
habitats might not be able to sustain themselves (Lirman et al. 2008). At the current rate
of human population growth, it is projected that Florida will lose the ability to sustain its
estuarine environments within the next 20 years (Montague and Odum 1997). In order to
protect the Port of Miami seagrass community from future human impacts, management
and mitigation of dangers to the ecosystem are imperative.
The focus of this study is to analyze a potential link between significant changes
in seagrass composition, cover-density and distribution and documented
environmental changes within the Port of Miami. Spatially and temporally explicit
environmental data are essential for determining possible causes of change within the
seagrass beds (Greenawalt-Boswell et al. 2006). Comparing seagrass quadrat surveys
with water quality and environmental data is useful to describe the conditions in which
each species is found and will allow for future comparisons (Greenawalt-Boswell et al.
2006). This study focuses on the seagrass community and the environmental and
physical measurements documented in the North Biscayne Bay region, within the sample
basin of the Port of Miami (POM), using data collected in the South Florida Fish and
Invertebrate Assessment Network (FIAN) project, 2005-2011, an element of the greater