Site Established

During the week of June 4 - 10, Carrie Manfrino, Jon Clamp, John Halas, Jules Craynock, and I surveyed apparently only two candidate sites that met our criteria. The proposed 20' site is at:

19^o 41.929' N

80 ^o 03.621' W

Or, a 22' site would be at:

19^o 41.941' N

80 ^o 03.625' W

A reef area, tentatively named "ICON Reef" by the CCMI staff, at ~30' to 40' deep, and about 225' oceanward (north) of the 20' site, has apparently high coral and sponge diversity, and is at:

19^o 41.972' N

80 ^o 03.633' W

Also, several sea turtles, groupers and snappers were spotted in the area. The site is almost directly offshore from the Little Cayman Research Center, and just inside the boundary of the Bloody Bay Marine Park area, where incidentally we witnessed some hammerhead sharks, several species of large groupers and schools of yellowtail snappers.

Jim Hendee

Grouper Spawning Aggregation

The circled area shows the western side of the island where groupers aggregate for spawning in January near the full moon.

Aerial View of Little Cayman

Click image to see larger view.

Little Cayman Research Center

NOAA/AOML is happy to announce a cooperative effort with the Central Caribbean Marine Institute to install an Integrated Coral Observing Network (ICON) station at a site near the Little Cayman Research Center. Funds for this project are being supplied through the government of the Cayman Islands and NOAA's Coral Reef Conservation Program.

Dr. James C. Hendee
ICON/CREWS Program Manager