An Ecological Study of Tague Bay Reef St. Croix, US Virgin Islands

West Indies Laboratory, Fairleigh Dickinson University

INTRODUCTION: This initial description and investigation of Tague Bay Reef was carried out from February 6th through March 11, 1972 by the staff and students of the West Indies laboratory. The object of the study was to accumulate as much information as possible about Tague Bay Reef in order that the data collected, and the impressions gathered, might serve as a baseline for detecting future changes in the reef caused by natural factors or human interference. Tague Bay Reef is a bank barrier reef about 3 miles long located on the northern margin of the eastern tip of St. Croix. The reef has a relief of about 5 meters on the landward edge and drops to about 15 meters on the seaward side. This 15 meter shelf continues to Buck Island, outside of which the water rapidly drops to abyssal depths. The reef remains in a relatively natural state at this time, having suffered little of the effects of human contact common elsewhere on St. Croix in the form of industrial and sanitary outflows, motorboat traffic, heavy fishing pressure, oil spills and other disruptions. The prime influence on certain areas of the reef is sedimentation due to terrestrial runoff from construction sites during periods of heavy rain. Periodically throughout history, this runoff must have been severe as the island of St. Croix has been under heavy cultivation for several hundred years. A representative by 150 meter transect crossing the reef was chosen as the primary study area. This transect is located approximately opposite Tague Point {see Transect Map). This study consists of maps and descriptions of the study area with respect to coral and algal zonation, fish distribution, primary productivity, and reef invertebrates. Related projects by individuals concerning fish and invertebrate behavior, plankton, and algal growth were completed and appear as part of this study. A twenty-four hour survey of physical, chemical, meteorological, and tidal parameters was taken on February 24th through February 25th at three stations inside .and outside the reef near the study area. A poison station was also conducted to collect fishes on February 29, 1972 on a portion of the landward side of Tague Bay reef near the study area.