The Pew Charitable Trusts organization recently awarded Yimnang Golbuu, CEO and Chief Researcher of the Palau International Coral Reef Center a 2013 Pew Fellowship in Marine Conservation to assess the connectivity of marine protected areas in Palau. PICRC researchers and colleagues developed a hydrodynamic model to track coral and fish larvae as they move through [...]
Scientists at the Caribbean Coral Reef Institute at the University of Puerto Rico identified locations and size of reef fish spawning aggregations by the sounds they make. The success of many commercially valuable species in the Caribbean requires annual spawning aggregations of reef fishes; aggregation behavior creates extreme vulnerability to overfishing. The scientists developed a [...]
NOAA researchers recently published An Integrated Biogeographic Assessment of Reef Fish Populations and Fisheries in Dry Tortugas: Effects of No-take Reserves, an analysis of both biological and socioeconomic changes resulting from the remote Florida marine reserve during its first five years. The report indicates that there seemed to be an early increase in certain fish species within [...]
Staff from the Connecticut Congressional delegation requested a visit from NOAA researchers from the National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS) to discuss recent seafloor mapping efforts and how they can be used in marine spatial planning, as well as general resource management, in Long Island Sound. They provided the delegation with details about NCCOS’s [...]
In October, NOAA scientists and partners collected seafloor photos and videos from over 355 locations around the St. Thomas East End Reserve, and in the Virgin Islands National Park and Virgin Islands Coral Reef National Monument. These new data will support management practices such as permitting, restoration, fisheries, climate change and scientific research; the depth [...]
Scientists from Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary and partner agencies will depart Key West this week aboard the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Ship Nancy Foster to map fish spawning sites between Key West and the Dry Tortugas. Data collected on this 10-day research cruise will enhance scientific understanding of fish spawning locations, as [...]
Following up on last year’s contaminant characterization field mission, scientists from NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science recently completed a two-week field mission to the St. Thomas East End Reserve. This year’s mission culminates a two-year effort to develop a baseline understanding of the reserve’s contamination, its toxicity, and also marine resources protected within [...]
From June 19-23, researchers from the National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science will lead a research cruise in the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary in the Gulf of Mexico. The cruise is the seventh of eight planned that will result in the most comprehensive spatial assessment of fish and benthic communities within the sanctuary [...]