
Download a map of the coral HAPC areas.
A brief description of four of the five deep water coral areas is provided below summarized from General Description of Distribution, Habitat and Associated Fauna of Deep Water Coral Reefs on the North Carolina Continental Slope (Ross, 2004) and Deep-Water Coral Reefs of Florida, Georgia and South Carolina: A Summary of the Distribution, Habitat and Associated Fauna (Reed, 2004). The fifth area, the Blake Ridge Diapir, encompasses a methane seep ecosystem that has not yet been well described.
Stetson Reef
This site contains hundreds of pinnacles along the eastern Blake Plateau offshore South Carolina. Over 200 coral mounds occur over this area. This area supports a 152 meter-tall pinnacle in 822 meters of water where submersible dives discovered live bushes of Lophelia coral, sponges, gorgonians, and black coral bushes. One of the tallest Lophelia coral lithoherms known occurs in this area. HBOI video
Savannah and East Florida Lithoherms
This site comprises numerous lithoherms at depths of 550 meters with relief up to 60 meters that provide live-bottom habitat. Submersible dives found that these lithoherms provided habitat for large populations of massive sponges and gorgonians in addition to smaller invertebrates which have not been studied in detail. Some ridges are nearly completely covered with sponges. Swordfish, sharks, and blackbelly rosefish are known to occur in the area. Further south, nearly 300 coral mounds from 8 to 168 meters tall have been documented.
HBOI video
Miami Terrace
The Miami Terrace and Escarpment is a Miocene-age terrace off southeast Florida with rugged hardbottom habitats and rich communities of bottom-dwelling organisms in 200-600 meter depths. Dense aggregations of wreckfish have been observed, in addition to blackbelly rosefish, skates, sharks, and dense schools of jacks. Lophelia mounds are also present at the base of the escarpment, within the Straits of Florida. The steep escarpments, especially near the top of the ridges, are rich in corals, octocorals, and sponges. HBOI video
Within the Shrimp Fishery Access Areas fishing with a shrimp trawl and/or shrimp possession is allowed by any vessel holding a rock shrimp limited access endorsement and equipped with an approved vessel monitoring system (VMS).
Creation of Shrimp Fishery Access Areas allowed the South Atlantic to establish deepwater CHAPCs while allowing a traditional fishery to continue without impacting deepwater habitat.
Below is information about the Shrimp Fishery Access Areas:
Tab Delimited Coordinates | SHAPEFILE | GOOGLE EARTH | |
Shrimp Fishery Access Area A | SFAA_A.txt | Zip File ~3kb | KMZ |
Shrimp Fishery Access Area B | SFAA_B.txt | Zip File ~3kb | KMZ |
Shrimp Fishery Access Area C | SFAA_C.txt | Zip File ~3kb | KMZ |
Shrimp Fishery Access Area D | SFAA_D.txt | Zip File ~3kb | KMZ |
Council staff met with industry representatives in fall 2007 to begin delineating the areas that would eventually become the Allowable Golden Crab Fishing Areas and Shrimp Fishery Access Areas. A joint meeting of the Deepwater Shrimp and Golden Crab Advisory Panels was convened in Cape Canaveral, Florida, in January 2008 to review the alternatives and determine whether gear conflicts between the two fisheries would need to be addressed. Subsequently, Council staff met with golden crab fishermen to continue the process of determining the best configuration for the Allowable Golden Crab Fishing Areas. Golden crab fishermen also met with Council members and staff during the March 2008 Council meeting in Jekyll Island, Georgia, and a joint meeting of the Golden Crab and Deepwater Shrimp Advisory Panels was also held in conjunction with the September 2008 Council meeting in Charleston, South Carolina.
Allowable Golden Crab Fishing areas restrict the deployment of golden crab traps to traditional golden crab fishing grounds to avoid impacting deep water coral habitat.
Below is information about the Golden Crab Allowable Fishing Areas:
Tab Delimited Coordinates | SHAPEFILE | GOOGLE EARTH | |
Golden Crab Access Area A | GCAA_A.txt | Zip File ~6kb | KMZ |
Golden Crab Access Area B | GCAA_B.txt | Zip File ~2kb | KMZ |
Golden Crab Access Area C | GCAA_C.txt | Zip File ~3kb | KMZ |
Golden Crab Northern Access Area | GCAA_Northern.txt | Zip File ~3kb | KMZ |
Golden Crab Southern Access Area | GCAA_Southern.txt | Zip File ~3kb | KMZ |