Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary Water Quality

In 1990, President Bush signed into law the Florida Keys National Sanctuary and Protection Act (HR5909) which designated a boundary encompassing >2,800 square nautical miles of islands, coastal waters, and coral reef tract as the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary (FKNMS). The Comprehensive Management Plan required the FKNMS to have a Water Quality Protection Plan (WQPP) thereafter developed by EPA and the State of Florida (EPA 1995).

The original agreement for the water quality monitoring component of the WQPP was subsequently awarded to the Southeast Environmental Research Program at Florida International University. Quarterly field sampling program began in March 1995. Field parameters measured at each of 112 station (surface and bottom at most sites) include salinity (practical salinity scale), temperature (°C), dissolved oxygen (mg L-1), turbidity (NTU), photosynthetically active radiation (PAR), and light attenuation (Kd, m-1).