The second edition of the "Outline for a Coral Bay "Area of Particular Concern" Marine Inventory: Phase 1: Inner Coral Harbor" is here May 2006: Coral Bay Inventory Report This is a 1 megabyte file and will take a while to download.

This second survey of the harbor in July 2005 added numerous coral and fish species to the numbers known to be living in the Inner Harbor -- bringing the total counts to 31 coral species and 59 fish species. There are even elkhorn coral clusters, an endangered species.

This document is the outline and beginning of an important project to inventory the marine and shoreline species which inhabit the Coral Bay, St. John, USVI area. It contains overview information for the area, a structure for expanding and completing the work and, as an example, observations for one critical area: Inner Coral Harbor. With this document as a background, it is intended that grant funding and/or
volunteers can continue and expand the project. It is also anticipated that the initial observations will provide the general public with valuable and insightful information on the wealth and variety of marine and terrestrial wildlife within the Coral Bay area. We welcome everyone's input intoexpanding and improving this research and document."There are lobsters, both young mature ones and juvenile/larval stage, juvenile sharks and many other species here. Many people think that stormwater and other factors have destroyed the population in the Inner Harbor. Fortunately, this is not the case. Many creatures are still living and reproducing in this unique mangrove, seagrass and reef habitat. Many of them need all three habitats close by to complete their reproduction lifecycle."We need to be sure that new developments along the shoreline in Coral Bay improve the health of the Bay by taking extra stormwater and waste water control steps beyond possible minimum requirements and limiting any damage to existing habitat to the least possible. They also could contribute to the understanding of the marine life here, by doing excellent environmental impact studies that include detailed longitudinal information about the species and the health of the site as habitat " Explained Sharon Coldren.Coral Bay Community Council thanks the volunteer researchers, Kimberlee
Myers and Gloria Witkus who conducted the research. "We hope more researchers will come forward to continue this valuable work and extend it to a complete understanding of how we can protect the underwater habitat. Our members are providing some support to a juvenile shark habitat study in August 2006, by providing donated lodging, a boat and gasoline for the professional researchers.

Want to know more about VI Sealife, Seagrass and Mangroves? Wander around this website and find lots of interesting info - fish guides, comprehensive description of habitats. Good research stuff for the kids, even coloring books to download: http://www.vifishandwildlife.com/