Evaluating the efficacy of two MPAs in the USVI: St. Thomas East End Reserves and St. Croix East End Marine Park
PROJECT OBJECTIVESThe objectives of this MPA efficacy project are to: (1) evaluate sample size requirements for coral target reef fish species to obtain a desired level of survey precision (e.g. 15% CV) to compare MPAs and open areas; (2) develop an optim...
Implementing Nature Based Solutions in the Achugao, CNMI Watershed
A comprehensive watershed management plan (WMP) meeting the Environmental Protection Agency’s A – I Criteria was recently developed for Achugao, CNMI. Stormwater management issues were identified as key concerns by community members, local stakeholders, a...
The US Virgin Islands Coral Reef Restoration Plan (2023) provides a benchmark of stated goals and targets to track coral restoration success at 6 sites on St. Croix (4 sites) and St. Thomas (2 sites). The restorations are and will be implemented by multip...
Development of Water Quality Monitoring Plan for USVI
This project was specifically request by the jurisdiction in the priorities document ("Develop a water quality sampling plan for major ghuts in the USVI with recommendations on how to incorporate or add this sampling plan to existing Division of Environme...
Characterizing Shallow-water Benthic Habitats In Select Areas Around Saipan, Tinian, and Rota (CNMI)
The goal of this project is to characterize high-priority areas of interest between 0 - 40m identified during the Mapping Gap Analysis Project (FY 21-23) in coordination with CNMI jurisdictional leadership. NCCOS will develop high-quality benthic habitat ...
Comprehensive Coral Reef Restoration for a Demonstration Site in St. Thomas, USVI
This project will conduct coral restoration at two important coral reef site in St. Thomas, USVI that were selected in collaboration with USVI's Department of Planning and Natural Resources, NOAA, and local stakeholders in development of the USVI Coral Re...
Local resource managers, operating with limited funds, often require reliable access to current, spatially-explicit and easily interpretable data to help prioritize coral reef sites for risk assessments and conservation actions. In the past decade, NOAA a...
Little is known about the life history parameters of redtail parrotfish and hogfish from the Caribbean. Reproductive biology, age, and growth research is crucial for these specific stocks because these data are missing completely for redtail parrotfish an...
Assessing impacts of Hawaii's 2019 coral bleaching event on coral recovery and coral communities
As coral bleaching events become more frequent and severe in Hawaii and managers develop resilience-based management plans, it is crucial that we develop a statewide perspective on how reefs are responding to repeated events. The activities we are proposi...
Bleaching VI