MAIN OFFICE

665 SE 10th Street, Suite 104
Deerfield Beach, FL 33441

Phone 954.591.1219

Fax 954.653.2981

The Indian River County Sector 7 Beach Restoration Project was constructed from April 9 through May 16, 2007. This was the first beach restoration project in Sector 7 with placement of approximately 360,000 yd3 of sand along approximately 11,730 ft of shoreline. The beach fill project area extends from Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) Range Monuments R-97 to R-108. Coastal Eco-Group, Inc. was contracted by Indian River County through Applied Technology &      Management, Inc. (ATM) to conduct the Year 2 post-construction biological monitoring of nearshore hardbottom habitat. The Year 2 survey was conducted in June and July of 2009. The objectives of the Year 2 nearshore hardbottom survey were to evaluate the extent of the equilibrium toe-of-fill (ETOF) as compared to the predicted ETOF, assess the potential burial of hardbottom communities due to beach profile adjustment, assess secondary impacts to hardbottom communities due to sedimentation seaward of the ETOF, and assess secondary impacts to hardbottom communities due to the longshore spreading of beach fill material downdrift of the project area. Field methods involve digital video surveys of permanent cross-shore transects, in situ quadrat assessment, sedimentation accumulation measurements, line-intercept mapping of sand cover along cross-shore transects, and diver mapping of the nearshore hardbottom edge.

 

Video surveys are conducted using a four millimeter Sony TRV-900 digital video camera in an Amphibico Navigator under- water housing unit. Video transects are quantitatively analyzed using Coral Point Count with Excel extensions (CPCe) based upon the random point count method for estimation of percent cover from digitally frame-grabbed underwater video images.  Estimates of benthic percent cover are performed for each image according to the following functional groups/ categories: scleractinian corals, octocorals, macroalgae, microalgae/ cyanobacteria, sponges, tunicates, hydroids, sabellariid worm, zoanthids, urchins, holothuroids, and substrate. Substrate is broken down into the following categories: unconsolidated substrate (rubble/shell hash, rhodoliths), sediment over hardbottom, sediment over benthos and sand.

 

For in situ quadrat assessments, biotic parameters include visual estimates of planar percent cover of sessile benthos pooled to major functional groups: macroalgae, turf algae, encrusting red algae, sponge, hydroid, octocoral, stony coral, tunicate, bare hard substrate, seagrass, anemone, zoanthid, Millepora sp., sessile worm, wormrock, bivalves, bryozoans, and barnacles. Macroalgae percent cover data are broken down by genus/species-level percent cover (all with at least 1% cover). Octocorals and stony coral colonies are identified and the maximum height or width is measured to the nearest cm.

BRANCH OFFICE

513 US Highway 1  Suite 215 North Palm Beach, FL 33408

Indian River County Sector 7 Beach Nourishment Project Post-Construction Biological

Monitoring of Nearshore Hardbottom - Years 2 and 3 (2009 and 2010)