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...
Reef Restoration Capacity Building in American Samoa
This project supports reef restoration capacity building in American Samoa. National Marine Sanctuary of American Samoa (NMSAS) will continue to support territorial restoration activities. This project will track ongoing restoration efforts and continue t...
Southeast Florida Reef Fish Spawning Aggregations – Addressing Ecosystem Management Information Needs
Assessing and monitoring reef fish spawning aggregations (FSAs) continue to be one of the highest priority fisheries ecosystem management topics in Florida’s Coral Reefs. The phenomena are recognized as critical components of fish population dynamics and ...
Forecast modeling coral populations to inform restoration planning
One of the challenges of restoration planning is forecasting how many outplants will be needed to meet restoration goals at a given site. Additional challenge are that restoration goals are often defined in terms of percent cover rather than number of cor...
NOAA has emerged as the lead for Mission: Iconic Reefs, as requested by the MIR partners. Thus, we must provide foundational elements of the program to allow for success of the implementing partners in their areas of expertise (e.g., coral and grazer rest...
NOAA has emerged as the lead for Mission: Iconic Reefs, as requested by the MIR partners. Thus, we must provide foundational elements of the program to allow for the success of the implementing partners in their areas of expertise (e.g., coral and grazer ...
Characterizing interactions between LBSP, coral growth, and herbivory to set targets for coastal runoff
Sediment laden runoff inhibits coral growth through smothering and light reduction and is a primary cause of reef decline and shifts from coral- to algal- dominance. Surprisingly however, there are no guidelines for sediment runoff in Hawaii or globally. ...
Patterns, trends, and future projections in Pacific coral reef carbonate budgets
Project Motivation: For a reef to persist in the face of disturbance and maintain ecosystem function, the rate at which the reef is growing must outpace the rate at which it is being eroded away. Carbonate budget assessments allow us to determine whether ...
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 ...
A mechanism for incorporating a spatial management credit into Sustainable Coral Reef Fisheries Management Plans
U.S. Pacific Islands coral reef fisheries managers are moving toward the development of sustainable Jurisdictional Coral Reef Fisheries Management Plans (JCR-FMPs). Local government development of such JCR-FMPs are blending management tools such as specie...
Evaluating the efficacy of two MPAs in the USVI: St. Thomas East End Reserves and St. Croix East End Marine Park