Physical and chemical conditions and limiting factors
Water depths varied from below 3 m during the pre-hurricane period to over 4 m in the post-hurricane period. Secchi transparencies ranged from a maximum of 60 cm to a minimum of 10 cm (Fig. 3a). There was a significant reduction in transparency from 30 cm before the hurricanes, to an average of 15 cm afterwards (Table I). In the near-shore region, water depths varied from below 2 m to near 4 m, and transparencies ranged from over 1 m to below 0.1 m (Fig. 3b). Transparencies here were also significantly reduced, from 53 cm before to 26 cm after the hurricanes (Table I).