The Northern Caribbean region has four sub regions, or reef tracts, within it: 1) Florida and the US Gulf of Mexico, 2) Bermuda, 3)Bahamas and 4)the Turks and Caicos Islands. The northernmost reefs of this region lie outside the true Caribbean Basin and it is an area of great biological interest to scientists because its northerly location encompasses the outer limits of the distribution range of many coral species. It is also a region of great contrasts. The reefs of the Florida Reef Tract are among the most intensively studied in the world but they also are the most highly degraded and most heavily utilized. In contrast, the reefs of the Bahamas Tract are little studied  and human impacts (other than fishing) are concentrated in only a couple of regions, leaving the vast majority of reefs relatively undisturbed. As well, the Flower Garden Banks off the Texas coast, as well as Bermuda and the Turks and Caicos Islands are well protected and relatively pristine.

 
The coral reefs of mainland USA are restricted for the most part to two areas: the coastline of southern Florida and a few but small important reef patches in the Gulf of Mexico. A specially designated area in the Florida Keys is the Florida Keys Particularly Sensitive Sea Area

The Florida Reef Tract is one of the most extensive reef systems in the Northern Caribbean region. Starting directly offshore from Miami Beach and running south  there is a nearly continuous reef structure that stretches  in a barrier form  to the end of the Florida Keys. Few marine environments in the United States compare to the Florida Keys in natural beauty and resource diversity. An island chain on the southern tip of the Florida peninsula, the Keys are surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and Florida Bay and the Gulf of Mexico to the north. They stretch 202 miles (356 km) to the south and west, ending 90 miles north of Cuba. On the ocean side, adjacent to the island chain, lies North America’s only living coral barrier reef. This reef system is the most extensive living coral reef in the U.S. and is the third largest barrier reef in the world. It is part of a productive marine ecosystem that includes patch and bank reefs, seagrass meadows, soft and hard bottom communities, and coastal mangroves. This matrix of interconnected habitats supports one of the most biologically diverse assemblages of marine life in North America

Human impacts on these reefs have been significant, including the building of a railroad in 1912 and a road in 1938 joining the Keys to the mainland. Over 4 million people visit the Florida Keys annually, and the majority are attracted by the marine environment for sailing, diving and fishing.  As a result, the Florida reefs get hit hard by human activity,  and include some of the most degraded  in the region. Patterns of water flow have been interrupted by road and building construction, and ship groundings, anchor damage and scouring of sea grass by boat propellers have all taken their toll. Another major problem is the eutrophication and pollution of near shore waters from agricultural runoff in South Florida, as well as impact from  sewage treatment plants, numerous private septic tanks and hundreds of marinas from Miami to Key West.

Although some declines in coral growth and general ecological conditions can be dated back to construction of the Keys causeway, much more rapid declines have been observed since the 1980's, and these are linked primarily to the causes listed above. Even though all coral reefs in Florida are protected either at the state or national level, many unsustainable and harmful activities still take place.  However, there is some good news. In 1990, the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary was established by The Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary and Protection Act (HR5909) which includes over 2,800 square nautical miles of critical marine habitat, including coral reef, hard bottom, sea grass meadows, mangrove communities and sand flats. Additionally, in 1997 a system of 23 no-take marine reserves was established within the sanctuary and within 3 years signs of coral reef and habitat recovery had appeared. Other key sanctuary initiatives include a water quality protection program, extensive education and volunteer programs, channel marking initiatives and installation of maintenance of mooring buoys to prevent further anchor damage to reefs.

Additionally, as a result of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary and Protection Act, the Florida Keys Coral Reef Monitoring Project was established. It is a large-scale, multiple-investigator project funded by the EPA and designed to assess the status and trend of Florida's offshore reefs, patch reefs, and hard bottom communities over a 5-year period. The Act requires the US Environmental Protection agency and the State of Florida to implement a Water Quality Protection Program in cooperation with NOAA. Programs in monitoring seagrass habitats, coral reefs and hardv bottom communities, and water quality were instituted with the intent of integrating information with the central focus of water quality. The team of Phillip Dustan, University of Charleston, James Porter, University of Georgia, and Walter Jaap, Florida Marine Research Institute were asked to collaborate on the design and implementation of the coral reef/hard bottom community monitoring program.

Another success story for the reefs of the Florida Keys is the creation of a protective zone known as the Florida Keys' Particularly Sensitive Sea Area. It was established through cooperative efforts of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and protects more than 3,000 square nautical miles in the Keys from anchors, groundings and collisions from large international ships and is one of only 5 such areas in the world. This link will take you a press release about this protective zone.

 The other region in the Northern Caribbean tract that has coral reefs is the United States waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Here there are a number of coral banks rising up from the continental shelf.  However, the corals found on these reef structures as a rule lack diversity and cannot be called true reefs, with the exception of the unique East and West Flower Garden Banks found off the coast of Texas.  These particular reefs are located 200 kilometer south of Galveston, Texas and are considered some of the most isolated in the Wider Caribbean region. They were declared a United States National Marine Sanctuary in 1992, and this protection is vital, since the area is heavily populated with petroleum production facilities and pipelines. The Flower Garden Banks are  the setting for some spectacular seasonal events, including a synchronized  mass spawning of many coral species at the last quarter of the moon each August and huge gathering of schools of hammerhead sharks at various times of the year.

OFFICIAL, SCIENTIFIC & GOVERNMENTAL SITES:
Florida Fish & Wildlife Research Institute
Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary (Official Site)
Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary
Florida Keys Reef Monitoring Project
John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park
Mote Marine Labratory
NOAA Center For Coastal Monitoring and Assessement: Coral Reef Report -Florida
The Florida Keys & Keys West (Monroe Country Tourist Development Council)
The Turtle Hospital (Located in Marathon)

DIVING CLUBS:
Active Divers (Miami based dive club)
Apres Ponglee Dive Club (Pompano Beach based dive club)
Caloosa Dive Club (Cape Coral based dive club)
Central Florida Pleasure Divers (Orlando based dive club)
Loggerhead Dive Club (Lakeland based dive club)
Sarasota Scuba Club (Sarasota based dive club)
Suncoast Scuba Club (Tampa based dive club)

Bermuda is a relatively isolated group of 150 limestone islands in the Sargasso Sea area of the Western North Atlantic Ocean more than 1000 kilometers from the United States mainland. Most of the land area is represented by 5 islands which are joined together by causeways. The geologic structure the islands rest on, referred to as the Bermuda Platform, supports the northernmost coral reefs of the Atlantic and the warm climate that keeps the ocean at coral reef friendly temperatures is due to the Gulf Stream, which passes to the north and west of Bermuda.

The reef flora and fauna are much less diverse than in the Caribbean, and only one third of the corals found there occur in the Bermuda Tract. Approximately 120 species of reef fish have been recorded, and fringing, bank barrier and lagoonal patch reefs are evident and their health overall is very good, even though the islands of Bermuda have a very high human population density. Bermuda has one of the highest per capita incomes in the world, and in general, marine conservation enjoys a high priority status, with a very significant amount of protection given to the Bermuda coral reefs.

OFFICIAL, SCIENTIFIC & GOVERNMENTAL SITES:
Aquarius (NOAA's Bermuda Biological Station For Research)
Bermuda Beaches
Bermuda's Coral Reefs
Reef Base: Bermuda

COMMERCIAL
Bermuda Guide
Blue Water Divers and Watersports
Experience Bermuda (Official Site of the Bermuda Hotel Association)

The Bahamas, an archipelago of some 700 islands and coral reefs, stretch over 1225 kilometers from north to south, and most of the islands are scattered over two shallow banks, the Little Bahama Bank and the Great Bahama Bank, with depths of 10 meters or less bounded by extremely deep water up to 4,000 meters. All of the Bahamian islands have low relief and are formed from carbonate material.

Two major ocean currents affect the Bahama Tract: the North Equatorial Current which flows up from the southeast, and the Gulf Stream which flows from the straits of Florida from the west. Reef development as a whole is limited by the exposure to hurricanes, unusually cold winters in the northern islands and by turbid waters on many leeward bank margins. However, there still are thousands of small patch reefs and some bank barrier reefs, including the Andros Barrier Reef which is one of the longest reef systems in the Western Atlantic. Many of the Bahamian coral reefs are in very good condition which is probably due to their remoteness and the country's low population.

Fish stocks and edible reef animals are still common on many Bahamian reefs, and there is a well developed commercial and export fishery. Overexploitation of certain species, including queen conch, whelk Cittarium Pica, spiny lobster and several grouper, does occur. A number of illegal fishing techniques take place and include the use of toxic chemicals, the harvesting of hawksbill turtles, the taking of undersized queen conch, and the collection of spiny lobster out of season. Overall however, the Bahamas, a stable, developing nation with an economy heavily dependent on tourism seems to be headed in the right direction regarding reef conservation and protection. Several protected areas have already been established, and since many of the tourists who visit the islands are interested in diving, it will be in the Bahamas best interests to continue to look towards reef protection.

OFFICIAL, SCIENTIFIC & GOVERNMENTAL SITES:
Reef Base: Bahamas


The Turks and Caicos Islands consist of two archipelagos of limestone islands distributed across the relatively small Turks Bank and the much larger Caicos Bank, with a total area of some 8,000 square kilometers. These islands are defined by really steep drop offs to deep oceanic water, and geologically the islands are similar to the Bahamas. The edges of the main banks are dominated by coral, algae and gorgonian communities and since there is very little agricultural activity on the islands, the terrestrial runoff is very low. A considerable number of marine protected areas have been designated and in general the reefs of these islands show very little signs of negative human impact.

OFFICIAL, SCIENTIFIC & GOVERNMENTAL SITES:

Parts extracted and adapted from The World Atlas of Coral Reefs, by Mark D. Spalding, Corinna Ravilious and Edmund P. Green, published by the University of California Press . For more complete and in-depth coverage of the topics presented in this webpage, I recommend highly purchasing a copy of this beautifully illustrated book. Just click on the University of California Press link above to do so.