Executive Summary

Under contract with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to evaluate the effect of restoration on the fish assemblages at the Wellwood grounding site in the Florida Keys, the Reef Environmental Education Foundation (REEF) conducted 267 roving fish surveys and 246 belt transect surveys during the first year of a five year monitoring project. Surveys were conducted at the Wellwood Restoration Site and two nearby Reference Sites. Total species richness at each site during Year1 surveys was 145 at the Restoration Site, 165 at the North Reference and 176 at the South Reference. Average species richness per monitoring event was 83 at the Restoration Site, 119 at the North Reference and 125 at the South Reference. The top 25 species from each of the reference sites were also recorded at the Restoration Site; however there were several species of grunt and snapper that were in high abundance at the reference sites that were rare at the Restoration site. The average size of surgeonfish and parrotfish increased over time at the Restoration Site. The proportion of surgeonfish at the Restoration Site greater than 20cm, increased to 17 % after one year, up from 4 % in the months immediately following restoration. Similarly, while large parrotfish were rare during the first 5 monitoring events, 23% of the individuals recorded at the Restoration Site during the July 2003 (one year) effort were greater than 30cm