NOAA's National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science

The Aquatic Research Consortium (ARC)

The Aquatic Research Consortium is a collaboration of scientists from the Gulf Coast Research Laboratory of The University of Southern Mississippi and from the University of Texas–San Marcos. The studies’ overall aim is to delineate specific genetic changes reflecting exposures to adverse environmental conditions. The proposed program will build on collective expertise in molecular genetics and toxicology, aquatic animal stock maintenance, refined exposure methodologies and toxicological response assessments. Ultimately, the data acquired and the models developed will be used to assess and monitor responses of both laboratory and wild fish to environmental perturbations.

Hawai’i Coral Reef Initiative

HCRI http://www.hawaii.edu/ssri/hcri/
http://www.cop.noaa.gov/ecosystems/coralreefs/current/hcri-factsheet-cr.html

The Hawai’i Coral Reef Initiative Research Program (HCRI—RP) was established in 1998 as a partnership between the University of Hawaii (UH) and Hawaii’s Division of Aquatic Resources (DAR). The program focuses on the linkages between human activities and damage to the coral reef ecosystem with the objective of providing resource managers with much–needed information to effectively prevent, and possibly reverse, coral reef degradation. Additional collaborators include the Pacific Science Association, Bishop Museum, and the Hawaii Nature Conservancy.

The core strength of this program is that its research and monitoring activities are run as a competitive selection process. Within this framework and to achieve its objectives, yearly priorities for the annual proposal competition are set through a consultative process between the two main partners and other related agencies and organizations with interest in Hawaii ’s coral reef resources. This process provides resource managers with timely, highest quality scientific information.

Caribbean Coral Reef Institute

(CCRI) http://ccri.uprm.edu/
http://www.cop.noaa.gov/ecosystems/coralreefs/current/ccri-factsheet-cr.html

CCRI is a Congressionally–directed program administered by NOAA’s Center for Sponsored coastal Ocean Research that funds scientific research and monitoring of Puerto Rico’s coastal reefs (with the University of Puerto Rico—Mayagüez. The goal of CCRI is to engage in research and monitoring activities applicable to improvement of coral reel management strategies and that will help build management capability within Puerto Rico. CCRI also aims at fully using the resource base of the region when implementing its activities.

The program will be based at three sites: La Parguera and Culebra, Puerto Rico, and St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands, all of which contain marine protected areas in various stages of development. Research conducted at these sites will build upon current research and historical data going back 40 years and the comparison of processes (both ecological and social) will result in greater understanding of coral reef function and provide a scientific basis for reef conservation and restoration.

National Coral Reef Institute

http://www.nova.edu/ncri/
http://www.cop.noaa.gov/ecosystems/coralreefs/current/ncri-factsheet-cr.html

The National Coral Reef Institute (NCRI) at the Nova Southeastern University Oceanographic Center was established by Congressional mandate in 1998. NCRI’s primary objective is the protection and preservation of coral reefs through applied and basic research on coral reef diversity, assessment, monitoring, and restoration coupled with education and training of scientists, managers, and educators. The Coastal Ocean Program (COP) of the Center for Sponsored Coastal Ocean Research (CSCOR), part of NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science, continues to support the NCRI. The NCRI conducts research and monitoring that meets the research goals and objectives called for in the Coral Reef Conservation Act of 2000. NCRI scientists conduct projects designed to address coral reef issues which support both the mission of NOAA and the efforts of the Coral Reef Task Force to improve the definition of research and monitoring needs, thus enabling better management of the nation’s coral reefs.

Oceans and Human Health Center at the Hollings Marine Laboratory

http://www.coastalhealth.noaa.gov/ohh/

The Oceans and Human Health Act of 2004 directed NOAA to establish an Oceans and Human Health Initiative "to coordinate and implement research and activities of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration related to the role of the oceans, the coasts, and the Great Lakes in human health" and includes the formation of Centers of Excellence in Oceans and Human Health. As one of the Centers, the Hollings Marine Laboratory (HML) is developing new methods and approaches to identify and characterize chemical and microbial threats to marine ecosystems and human health and evaluate the health responses of marine organisms to stress. To accomplish these objectives the HML established and continues to build capacity in three core research areas. These are source tracking of marine pathogens, chemical contaminants, and applied marine genomics. A monitoring and assessment core is validating and testing the sensitivity of the new tools being developed. The results of the research program will be conveyed to environmental and public health managers, teachers, university students and citizens of all ages through a comprehensive education and outreach program.

Environmental Cooperative Science Center

http://ecsc.famu.edu/

The ECSC was established in 2001 as part of NOAA’s Education Partnership Program to address ecological and coastal management issues at specific National Estuarine Research Reserves (NERR) and the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. When viewed collectively, ECSC activities will impact much of the southeastern and mid–Atlantic coastal regions of the United Sates including the Mississippi, Florida and Texas Gulf coasts, South Florida, and the Chesapeake and Delaware Bays. These sites were selected because of the critical nature of their coastal ecosystems; their proximity to ECSC member institutions; and because they presented ideal opportunities to expand existing research, education, and outreach activities involving member institutions.

The ultimate goals of coastal management must be to ensure the sustainability and health of the coastal ecosystem and to ensure that the economy of the coastal area prospers. These goals have often been seen as contradictory and thus as incompatible. ECSC will direct significant research efforts to the structure of the economic and social systems of coastal communities and their relationships with the natural systems in order to overcome the conflicts between these two important components.