Asher, J.

PIFSC Cruise Report CR-11-008 (Cruise HA-11-01, Legs II and III)

2011

Honolulu, HI

NOAA NMFS Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC)

139

Vessel: NOAA ship Hiialakai; Mission Number HA-11-01, Legs II and III; Cruise Period: 7 April - 9 May 2011; Area of Operation: Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI); Type of Operation: Conduct interdisciplinary Pacific Reef and Assessment Monitoring Program (Pacific RAMP) surveys in waters surrounding Guam and the CNMI. A summary of Pacific RAMP planned operations and required permitting applications were sent to the following institutions: United States Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Guam Department of Agricultures Division of Aquatic and Wildlife Resources, Office for Coastal Management, and CNMI Division of Fish and Wildlife.

"Missions: A) Conducted ecosystem monitoring of the species composition, abundance, percentage of cover, size distribution, and general health of the fishes, corals, target macroinvertebrates, and algae of the shallow-water (less than or equal to 30 m) coral reef ecosystems of Guam and the CNMI; B) Deployed and retrieved a suite of instruments and installations - including SST buoys, STRs, RAS, CTD sensor, ADP, ARMS, CAUs, and EARs - to allow for remote, long-term monitoring of oceanographic, environmental, and ecological conditions of the coral reef ecosystems of Guam and the CNMI; C) Conducted shallow-water CTD casts and collected water samples for Chl-a, nutrient, dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC), total alkalinity (TA), salinity, and microbial community analyses to depths less than or equal to 30 m to examine physical and biological linkages supporting and maintaining these island ecosystems; D) Conducted shipboard oceanographic and meteorological observations to examine physical and biological linkages supporting and maintaining these island ecosystems, using CTD casts deployed to a depth of 500 m with concurrent water samples taken at select locations and depths, collecting continuous ADCP, SST, salinity, and partial pressure of carbon dioxide (pCO2) data around reef ecosystems and fundamental meteorological data, such as air temperature, wind speed and direction, barometric pressure, and relative humidity; E) Collected a small number of shallow-water coral cores to examine calcification (growth) rates in recent decades and assess potential early impacts of ocean acidification; F) Determined the existence of threats to the health of these coral reef resources from anthropogenic sources, including marine debris; and G) Deployed a refurbished HARP at Saipan."

CRCP Project ID 1221; Project Title: C204 Pacific Reef Assessment and Monitoring Program (Pacific RAMP): Biennial Monitoring for the US Pacific Islands and Atolls; Principal Investigator: Rusty Brainard. CRCP Project ID 20498; Project Title: Ocean Acidification: Calcification Rates of Corals and Crustose Coraline Algae in the Pacific Islands; Principal Investigator: Rusty Brainard. CRCP Project ID 1219; Project Title: C201 Coral Reef Watch - Physical and Biological Monitoring of U.S. Pacific Islands; Principal Investigator: Kevin Wong. CRCP Project ID 20579; Project Title: C208 Ocean Acidification: Spatial and Temporal Patterns of Carbonate Chemistry in the Pacific Islands; Principal Investigator: Charles Young.