The CARICOMP (Caribbean Coastal Marine Productivity) network is a cooperative network of 25 marine laboratories, parks and reserves in 17 countries throughout the Caribbean region. The laboratories are committed to monitoring key ecological parameters using standardized methods in the major coastal habitats: mangroves, seagrasses and coral reefs. The Florida Institute of Oceanography is the administrative center for the network. The monitoring data is processed, analyzed and archived at the CARICOMP Data Management Center, located at the University of the West Indies, Jamaica. This data is critical to detect regional trends of health in these key habitats. Coral Reef Transect data from the network shows trends in percent cover by groups, including hard corals, algae, soft corals, sponges, and abiotic. From 1993-1998, hard coral cover either remained the same or increased at 17 of 19 sites. Two sites showed a decrease in coral cover. A definitive cause and effect relationship has yet to be established for these trends but the data outlines the usefulness of long term monitoring programs to evaluate the health of coral reefs.

Percent algal cover increased at 4 sites was unchanged at 9 sites and decreased at 4 sites. Management plans enacted in the early 1990šs at the Bermuda site eliminated the use of non-selective fish traps and created no fishing zones. These no fishing zones may be causing a trophic cascade effect within the fish population, increasing the predation on herbivores thus reducing herbivory on the reef. Although algal cover is highly variable both spatially and temporally, the monitoring network offers the ability to track these fluctuations on a continuous time scale. Preliminary results from marine reserve monitoring programs in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary No-Take Zones show similar trophic responses. Recently adopted coral disease monitoring protocols have enabled site directors to quantitatively assess the presence of several types of coral disease. Dr. Ernesto Weil, site director from the University of Puerto Rico will present the results of this study.

The reefs of the Caribbean are under acute pressure from many fronts, including both anthropogenic and naturally occurring sources. CARICOMP will continue to monitor the coastal productivity of these areas. Data from the first three years, 1993-1995 has been published by UNESCO in CARICOMP: A Caribbean Network for Coastal Monitoring and Scientific Collaboration edited by Bjorn Kjerfve. I will have copies to distribute at the meeting.

The multiple island rule is applied to the islands sheltering the Caribbean Sea from the Atlantic Ocean. It is shown that the weak mean transport through straits such as the Windward Passages is due to the structure of the Atlantic wind stress curl over the latitudes to the east of the island rather than topographic blocking. A topographic version of the rule is used to provide an analytic explanation of the seasonal variability in Florida Strait transport reported in numerical modelling studies.

Mass mortalities and epyzootic events could play an important role in the deterioration of coral reefs since they can bring about significant changes in the composition, dynamics and community structure at local and geographic scales. Reports of new diseases (and/or more frequent events of known epizootics) associated with coral reef organisms have increased drastically in the last decade. Some of these reports claim widespread mortality of colonies and the eventual demise of reef communities. However, lack of base-line information on important aspects such as the identification of the pathogens, the etiology of most diseases, their "normal" incidence rate and their temporal, local and geographic variability, prevent us from making realistic predictions about the potential effects of these epyzootics on the coral reef community. In this project, quantitative data is being collected on the number and incidence of all "described" Caribbean coral diseases and Aspergilliosis (Gorgonia spp) reef localities along a latitudinal gradient from Bermuda to Venezuela. The objectives are to: (a) assess the incidence of the different coral diseases within and across geographic regions; (2) to determine if the number and incidence of the diseases vary with depth, distance to human impacted areas and latitude; and (3) to produce a base-line data that can be used for future monitoring. The CARICOMP coral disease protocol was used. All coral and Gorgonia spp. colonies within nine-twelve 40 m2 (20 x 2) belt-transects laid in three-four depth intervals (0-3, 3-6, 6-12 and 12-20 m) in different reefs were counted and checked for injures, bleaching and diseases. Not all reefs sampled could be divided into the four depth intervals. Preliminary analyses of the data indicate that overall, number an incidence of diseases was low (0.51 - 5.64 % of colonies in those species affected and 0.3 - 2.4 % considering all species found in the belt-transects) across the north-south gradient. Incidence (proportion of corals infected) and number of diseases tend to increase from north to south. Black Band Disease, Yellow Band Disease (= Yellow Blotch), White Plague and Aspergilliosis were present in all geographic localities. Dark Spot disease and White Band Disease were not observed in Bermuda. Populations of Gorgonia ventalina showed the highest incidence of colonies infected (7.6 - 17.9 %) by any disease. DSS was very frequent in Siderastrea siderea and Stephanocoenia intersepta in reefs of Los Roques, Venezuela. Parrot fish predation and damsel fish damage were the most common injuries observed.

Since March of 1998, 130 WOCE type drifting buoys, drogued at 15m, have been launched in the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea and its approaches, providing in excess of 15,000 drifter days of data to date. Buoys were provided by the U.S. National Ocean Partnership Program; launch co-ordination was provided by scientists at NOAA/AOML and UM/RSMAS; and logistical and data processing support was provided by the NOAA/AOML Global Drifter and Data Assembly Centers. Buoys were launched with the cooperation of commercial ships, the Colombian Navy, the U.S. Coast Guard, and research vessels working in the region. Drifter track figures and data have been made available in real time via the WWW at www.IASlinks.org and www.drifters.doe.gov.

Repeated launches were concentrated in three areas: The Panama-Colombia Gyre in the SW Caribbean; the island passages in the Eastern Caribbean; and in the North Brazil Current rings, a primary source of mesoscale variability upstream of the Caribbean. This strategy was designed to maintain maximum coverage within the IAS as well as study propagation of variability through the region, the formation and intensification of the Caribbean Current, and the structure and permanence of the circulation within the Panama-Colombia Gyre.

Individual drifter tracks are shown which illustrate pathways and time scales of connectivity within the region. There is also sufficient data coverage to estimate fields of mean velocity, velocity variability, and several different indicators of dispersal. Drifter-derived fields are compared to existing estimates of mean velocity (ship drift, climatological geostrophic and Ekman estimates) and variability (ship drift, altimetry). Discussion will focus on the usefulness of Lagrangian measurements for larval and other transport studies, and diagnostics of the large-scale IAS circulation field. A companion presentation by Leaman and Wilson will focus on drifters in the Panama-Colombia Gyre and comparison with the high-resolution MICOM model. The merits of a cooperative plan for maintaining long-term drifter coverage of the IAS will be considered.