USVI Fisheries Managment Plan

Division of Fish and Wildlife Department of Planning and Natural Resources

Government of the Virgin Islands

The Fisheries Plan was completed in 2005 and was accepted by USFWS in 2006. The table of Contents has been broken up into sections. You may download these sections independently by selecting the blue underlined text.

	TABLE OF CONTENTS	Page No.
	Title Page
	Executive Summary	ii
	Table of Contents	iv
	Figures	vi
	Tables	vii
	Preface	viii
	List of Acronyms	x
	Acknowledgements	xii
I	INTRODUCTION AND PURPOSE Setting Need for Conservation and Strategic Plans Previous USVI Fisheries and Marine Resources Related Plans Benefits of a USVI Strategic and Comprehensive Marine Resources and Fisheries Plan Objective References Cited	1 1 4 5 8 9 9
II	APPROACH USFWS Eight Essential Elements Approach to Making This Plan References Cited	22 22 23 31
III	OVERVIEW OF HABITATS, ECOSYSTEMS, AND SPECIES Physical Setting Coral Reefs Mangroves Seagrass Beds Salt Ponds Algal Plains Marine Species References Cited	33 33 36 71 88 96 100 102 103
IV	OVERVIEW OF FISHERIES AND MARINE RECREATION Commercial Fisheries Recreational Fisheries Marine Recreation References Cited	132 132 147 154 165
V	IDENTIFICATION OF PRIORITY ISSUES AND SPECIES OF CONCERN Identification of Priority Issues Identification of Species of Conservation Concern References Cited	174 173 178 189
VI	CONSERVATION STRATEGIES Strategies for Addressing Priority Issues Strategies for Addressing Species of Greatest Conservation Concern References Cited	191 191 211 217
VII	PLAN IMPLEMENTATION Implementation of Priority Issue Conservation Strategies Implementation of Species of Concern Conservation Strategies	225 225 225
VIII	PLANS TO MONITOR IMPLEMENTATION OF CONSERVATION STRATEGIES Plans to Monitor Priority Issue Strategies Plans to Monitor Species of Concern Strategies Adjusting and Adaptive Conservation Strategies Based on Feed Back from Monitoring References Cited	244 244 244 262 264
IX	DECADAL REVIEW AND UPDATE OF THIS PLAN Review Period Decadal Review Procedures Review the Success in Implementation of this Plan Resources for Conducting the Review	262 262 262 263 263
	APPENDICES
1.	MARINE SPECIES OVERVIEW Reef Fish Invertebrates Other Species References	268 268 373 386 419
2	U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS MARINE HABITAT MAPS Marine Habitat Maps of St. Thomas/St. John Marine Habitat Maps of St. Croix	443 443 469
3	SUMMARY OF MARINE RESOURCE AND FISHERIES REGULATIONS Territorial Regulations Federal Regulations	500 500 506
4	DRAFT PLAN REVIEW COMMENTS	513
5	PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENTS AND PUBLIC MEETINGS	540