T/B MORRIS J. BERMAN OIL SPILL: RESTORATION PROJECTS OVERVIEW

2008 ◽  
Vol 2008 (1) ◽  
pp. 145-149
Author(s):  
John Iliff
Keyword(s):  
Puerto Rico ◽  
Oil Spill ◽  
Artificial Reef ◽  
Sea Turtle ◽  
San Juan ◽  
The Third ◽  
Natural Reserve ◽  
Major Injury ◽  
Leatherback Sea Turtle ◽  
Visitor Use

ABSTRACT The January 7, 1994, barge Morris J. Berman grounding and oil spill off Punta Escambrín, near San Juan, Puerto Rico, resulted in injury to natural resources along the shoreline and impaired their use for an extended time. Three major injury categories were pursued by the Trustees and the restoration projects for these injuries are presented in this paper. Including interest, approximately $10M in settlement funds are being used to fund 6 restoration projects. About $6 million of the settlement funds is being used for three projects to restore eolianite reef habitat, a type of fossilized sand dune, and other reef resources injured by the barge grounding and subsequent spill. One project, called the Condado Coral Trail project, will install artificial reef modules in the Condado Lagoon, approximately 1 mile southeast of the barge grounding site. Also in the Condado Lagoon, a 32-acre dredge hole will be brought back to historic elevations through beneficial use of dredged marine sediments. The third reef project entails acquisition of shoreline and coastal property which is intended to provide reef resource services comparable to those lost as a result of the oil spill and grounding. This parcel provides habitat for over 40 rare species of plants and animals including a major nesting beach for the endangered Leatherback Sea Turtle. The acquisition project also serves as the sole compensatory restoration project for lost recreational beach use. The parcel is being designated as a Puerto Rico Natural Reserve thereby allowing the public to use the land, including its unspoiled beaches, for recreational purposes. Finally, three restoration projects are being implemented to compensate for the lost historic visitor use services at the San Juan National Historic Site. More than 123,000 visitors to the El Morro and San Cristobal forts were affected by the spill for approximately six weeks. The first of the three projects includes Improving and Extending the Coastal Promenade, a walkway at the base of El Morro. The second is restoration of El Morro Water Battery and the third is cleaning and stabilizing certain exterior walls of the El Morro Fort.

LAND ACQUISITION AS A RESTORATION ALTERNATIVE: AN EXAMPLE FROM THE BARGE BERMAN OIL SPILL IN PUERTO RICO

2008 ◽  
Vol 2008 (1) ◽  
pp. 151-154
Author(s):  
John Iliff
Keyword(s):  
Puerto Rico ◽  
Oil Spill ◽  
Habitat Suitability ◽  
Sea Turtle ◽  
Land Acquisition ◽  
Suitability Analysis ◽  
Coastal Habitats ◽  
Recreational Beach ◽  
Resource Service ◽  
Beach Use

ABSTRACT The Morris J Berman oil spill was a large and significant spill occurring at the height of the tourist season in San Juan, Puerto Rico in January 1994. Two major categories of injury were compensated through a single land acquisition project. Restoration for lost recreational beach use was wholly compensated with the land acquisition project. The eolianite reef injury was mostly satisfied by the same land acquisition restoration project, but with the addition of two other restoration projects. Creating new recreational beach use opportunities by acquiring privately owned coastal habitat was a natural choice for restoration. Demonstrating the resource service link between a variety of coastal habitats and eolianite habitat was more challenging. The Trustee Council undertook a Habitat Suitability Analysis to demonstrate this service linkage. The Habitat Suitability Analysis (HSA) showed that habitats different from eolianite reef, including seagrass, mangroves and shallow hard-bottom, could provide habitat services to biota that rely upon eoliniate habitat for some part of their life cycle. The land acquired contained a variety of coastal habitats including mangroves, herbaceous wetlands, the mouths of two coastal rivers, the Sabana and Pitahaya Rivers, and reef communities immediately offshore. Additionally, the beach habitat on the parcel was identified in both the Leatherback and Hawksbill Sea Turtle Recovery Plans as being important conservation targets thus increasing their ecological importance. After selecting land acquisition as a restoration alternative, the need to identify a seasoned land acquisition partner was apparent given the intense demand and competition for a limited resource such as coastal land in Puerto Rico. Finding the right partner to assist in land acquisition, as well as engaging the public early were key elements in the success of this restoration alternative. Strategies and recommendations for other Trustees considering land acquisition as a restoration alternative are explored as well as the pitfalls and lessons learned.

scholarly journals Temporal and Spatial Blood Feeding Patterns of Urban Mosquitoes in the San Juan Metropolitan Area, Puerto Rico

Insects ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 129
Author(s):  
Matthew W. Hopken ◽  
Limarie J. Reyes-Torres ◽  
Nicole Scavo ◽  
Antoinette J. Piaggio ◽  
Zaid Abdo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Puerto Rico ◽  
Aedes Aegypti ◽  
Metropolitan Area ◽  
Culex Quinquefasciatus ◽  
Urban Ecosystems ◽  
Life Cycles ◽  
Pathogen Transmission ◽  
San Juan ◽  
Vertebrate Species ◽  
Blood Meals

Urban ecosystems are a patchwork of habitats that host a broad diversity of animal species. Insects comprise a large portion of urban biodiversity which includes many pest species, including those that transmit pathogens. Mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) inhabit urban environments and rely on sympatric vertebrate species to complete their life cycles, and in this process transmit pathogens to animals and humans. Given that mosquitoes feed upon vertebrates, they can also act as efficient samplers that facilitate detection of vertebrate species that utilize urban ecosystems. In this study, we analyzed DNA extracted from mosquito blood meals collected temporally in multiple neighborhoods of the San Juan Metropolitan Area, Puerto Rico to evaluate the presence of vertebrate fauna. DNA was collected from 604 individual mosquitoes that represented two common urban species, Culex quinquefasciatus (n = 586) and Aedes aegypti (n = 18). Culex quinquefasciatus fed on 17 avian taxa (81.2% of blood meals), seven mammalian taxa (17.9%), and one reptilian taxon (0.85%). Domestic chickens dominated these blood meals both temporally and spatially, and no statistically significant shift from birds to mammals was detected. Aedes aegypti blood meals were from a less diverse group, with two avian taxa (11.1%) and three mammalian taxa (88.9%) identified. The blood meals we identified provided a snapshot of the vertebrate community in the San Juan Metropolitan Area and have potential implications for vector-borne pathogen transmission.

scholarly journals Rainfall interception by six urban trees in San Juan, Puerto Rico

2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 103-115 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher J. Nytch ◽  
Elvia J. Meléndez-Ackerman ◽  
María-Eglée Pérez ◽  
Jorge R. Ortiz-Zayas
Keyword(s):  
Puerto Rico ◽  
Urban Trees ◽  
San Juan ◽  
Rainfall Interception

A community-based test of a linguistic hypothesis

1996 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-111 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Cameron
Keyword(s):  
Puerto Rico ◽  
Puerto Rican ◽  
San Juan ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Functional Compensation ◽  
Puerto Rican Spanish ◽  
Null Subject ◽  
Stratified Sample ◽  
Compensation Hypothesis

ABSTRACTThe Functional Compensation Hypothesis (Hochberg 1986a, b) interprets frequent expression of pronominal subjects as compensation for frequent deletion of agreement marking on finite verbs in Puerto Rican Spanish (PRS). Specifically, this applies to 2sg.túwhere variably deleted word-final -smarks agreement. If the hypothesis is correct, finite verbs with agreement deleted in speech should co-occur more frequently with pronominal subjects than finite verbs with agreement intact. Likewise, social dialects which frequently delete agreement should show higher rates of pronominal expression than social dialects which less frequently delete agreement. These auxiliary hypotheses are tested across a socially stratified sample of 62 speakers from San Juan. Functional compensation does show stylistic and social patterning in the category of Specifictú, not in that of Non-specifictú. However, Non-specifictúis the key to frequency differences between -s-deleting PRS and -s-conserving Madrid; hence the Functional Compensation Hypothesis should be discarded. (Functionalism, compensation, null subject, analogy, Spanish, Puerto Rico)

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