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Lisamarie Carrubba - NOAA Federal lisamarie.carrubba@noaa.gov

Re: PRELIMINARY DETERMINATION OF ACROPORID CORAL DCH ACROSS PUERTA DE TIERRA CORAL REEFS
February 19, 2015 at 5:01 PM
Sonia Villaverde gpsyblu@aol.com
Jennifer Moore jennifer.moore@noaa.gov, Tom Moore - NOAA Federal tom.moore@noaa.gov, Sean Griffin - NOAA Affiliate
sean.griffin@noaa.gov, Michael Nemeth - NOAA Affiliate michael.nemeth@noaa.gov, Roman, Carmen G SAJ
Carmen.G.Roman@usace.army.mil, Anabel Padilla Anabel.Padilla@noaa.gov, Mary Ann Lucking maryann@coralations.org

Sonia:
Thank you for your message and for the report you sent. I also received a message regarding this project from MaryAnn today.
For your information, this project is an erosion control project to address the severe landslide conditions that led to a portion of the
sidewalk collapsing. The stones that have been placed parallel to the coast were put there at our recommendation to trap sediments
as they are working, leaving the area behind them with a trench where the sediments accumulate and are then cleaned out along
with construction debris as work is done. The project is being undertaken by the Puerto Rico Highway and Transportation Authority
and is permitted by the Corps of Engineers. There will be a series of erosion control measures, including vegetation planting, to try to
prevent future landslides in this area that do lead to harm to the coral reef ecosystem just offshore. Unfortunately, any projects of this
type do lead to temporary impacts but, from your photos, it looks like the stone berm and trench are working to prevent major
transport of sediments outside the beach area.
-Dr. Lisamarie Carrubba
NOAA Fisheries
Caribbean Field Office, PRD
P.O. Box 1310
Boquern, PR 00622
787-851-3700
787-851-5588 (fax)
On Thu, Feb 19, 2015 at 3:45 PM, Sonia Villaverde <gpsyblu@aol.com> wrote:

Enclosed you will find a copy of the "Preliminary Determination of Acroporid Coral
Designated Critical Habitats Across Puerta de Tierra Urban Coral Reefs, San Juan, Puerto
Rico".
Please be advised that this document is a "Preliminary Report Submitted to the
National Marine Fisheries Service and the PR Department of Natural and Environmental
Resources" written by Dr. Edwin A. Hernndez-Delgado (1,2,3) with the collaboration of
Ivangs Rivera (1) and Samuel Suleimn Ramos (1).
(1) Sociedad Ambiente Marino (SAM) (2) University of Puerto Rico Center for Applied
Tropical Ecology and Conservation (UPR-CATEC) (3) University of Puerto Rico
Department of Biology.
The objective of this preliminary assessment of Puerta de Tierra marine natural systems
was to:
1) Provide a rapid qualitative assessment of adjacent benthic communities across the
potentially impacted zone by project Paseo Lineal de San Juan northern segment
(currently referred to as Paseo Lineal de Puerta de Tierra);
2) Determine if there were ESA-listed coral species across adjacent coral reefs;

3) Determine the spatial extension of Acroporid coral designated critical habitats (DCH)
across the zone; and
4) Determine the spatial extension of essential fish habitats (EFH) across the zone.
Surveyed benthic habitats showed the common presence of Endanged Species Act
(ESA)- listed Elkhorn coral (Acropora palmata) and a very low abundance of the Laminar
star coral (Orbicella faveolata) within less than 200 m from the shoreline.
Dr. Edwin Hernndez, in collaboration with his team from SAM and UPR-CATEC, found
that there were multiple colonies of A. Palmata located within 50 m or less from the
shoreline. Preliminary observations suggested that, nearly the entire surveyed segment
dominated by colonized pavement and patch reefs constituted part of the Acroporid
corals DCH. Though only one colony of O. Faveolata was observed during the preliminary
inspection, and though no DCH has been officially designated yet for this species, this
habitat represents also critical habitats for its presence. The existing coral biodiversity
preliminarily documented in this survey showed a total of 26 species within 700 linear
meters of reefs along the shoreline, including 3 hydrocorals, 11 octocorals and 12
scleractians or hard corals.
A preliminary survey of fish fauna also showed a total of 59 species, belonging to 37
genera and 25 families. This is only a preliminary list and future surveys may guarantee
that this list is likely to grow. The surveyed reef segment constitutes a very important
essential fish habitat (EFH) for multiple reef fish species, including species managed by the
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS). There
was also presence of submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) across the adjacent benthic
systems, but environmental impacts of the project Paseo Lineal of Puerta de Tierra
(formerly named Paseo Lineal San Juan) to any of these marine ecosystems were not
addressed. A massive landslide is significantly impacting the shoreline and adjacent coral
reefs ecosystems.
The recommendation is that there is a need to immediately stabilize an active landslide in
that coastline to reduce further impacts to adjacent coral reefs and SAV, including DCH of
Acroporid corals.
There is a need to:
1) Determine the spatial extent of Acroporid coral DCH across adjacent reef bottoms;
2) Determine the presence of any of the seven ESA-listed coral species across adjacent
reef bottoms;
3) Address impacts to EFH; and
4) Initiate consultation with NMFS under section 7 of ESA; and
5) Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement in full compliance with Law 147 of 1999.
There is no evidence in the available public record of this project that the construction of
an abandoned breakwater in navigable waters of the Atlantic Ocean was permitted by the
US Army Corps of Engineers. This should also be addressed. According to the available
public record, potential environmental impacts of this project on coral reef ecosystems
were not addressed. It should be noted that the tracking number of the Notice of Intent

were not addressed. It should be noted that the tracking number of the Notice of Intent
submitted to the EPA does not yield any results. This should also be examined.
Though this project will not be constructed within navigable waters, there is significant
potential for permanent adverse impacts on coral reefs associated to the construction of
this project could be significant and permanent and must be immediately addressed.
I would like to thank you for the attention given to this matter.
Sincerely,
Sonia Villaverde
San Juan, Puerto Rico
561-901-1184