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Projects

Aquaculture Spatial Planning in Florida: A Pilot S...

The increasing demand for American-grown seafood and improved technology to farm in the open ocean provides an opportunity for domestic aquaculture expansion, increased protein production, reduced social conflict, and lower ...

Are Marine Protected Areas Working in the U.S. Vir...

We used a decade of underwater monitoring data to evaluate the effectiveness of no-take and partial-take Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) located in the U.S. Virgin Islands in the context of ...

Assessing Biogeography, Conditions, and Marine Pro...

In 2001, state and federal agencies established the Tortugas Ecological Reserve to protect extensive unspoiled shallow-water coral reefs that support a wide variety of marine life off the Florida Keys ...

Assessing Coral Bleaching in Four U.S. Caribbean M...

In 2005, high sea temperatures caused coral bleaching in the Caribbean. The goals of this this project were to characterize the spatial extent of coral bleaching and recovery and to ...

Assessing Multi-species Habitat Use and Connectivi...

We are evaluating how highly migratory and protected species, including cetaceans, fishes, pinnipeds, seabirds, and turtles, are using a network of state and federal marine protected areas (MPAs) in the ...

Assessing the Ecological Function of Shipwrecks, A...

Increased calls for enhancing ocean habitats through artificial reefs and proposals for increasing offshore energy development require science to understand the impact and habitat value of these artificial structures on ...

Assessment of Dredged Material Created Habitat in ...

Summary: We characterized the habitat formed by dredge material disposed in sites designated by the EPA offshore of Fernandina Beach, FL using SCUBA assessments, multibeam mapping, and hydroacoustic sampling of ...

Atlantic Coastal Fish Habitat Database: Constructi...

We reviewed published information on the status of Atlantic coastal fish habitats and recorded it in a spatial bibliographic database for the Atlantic Coastal Fish Habitat Partnership. The results included ...

Baseline Assessment of Contaminants and Ecological...

We studied the water contaminant levels in the bay and the coral reef ecosystems just outside to develop a baseline environmental assessment of water quality and living marine resources of ...

Baseline Environmental Assessment off St. John, U....

Watershed restoration projects are being conducted on St. John, USVI, to improve the health of coral reef ecosystems, create jobs, improve island infrastructure, and obtain a better understanding of the ...

News

Scientists Study Shipwrecks to Understand Underwat...

Figure 1. Scientists study shipwreck sites to better understand ecological processes like succession, zonation, connectivity, energy flow, disturbance, and degradation. In the future, shipwrecks may provide opportunities to establish a ...

2023 Caribbean National Coral Reef Monitoring Prog...

NOAA Divers Kimberly Edwards and Sophie Cook conducts Benthic Assessment and Coral Demographic surveys for NCRMP. A team of NOAA divers supporting NOAA’s National Coral Reef Monitoring Program (NCRMP) recently ...

A Guide to Large-Area Imaging for Coral Reef Monit...

NCCOS and partners are using large-area imaging (LAI) to monitor shallow water coral reefs and restoration. Now, they’ve published a guidance document outlining standard operating procedures and concepts of photogrammetry ...

Request for Information: Identifying Aquaculture O...

In June 2023, NOAA and the state of Alaska announced a collaborative effort to identify Aquaculture Opportunity Areas (AOAs) in Alaska's waters, focusing on sustainable invertebrates (shellfish, sea cucumber, etc.) ...

National Coral Reef Monitoring Program Sampling in...

Figure shows all sites completed from August 7-11, 2023 across St Thomas and St John, USVI (n = 287). NOAA scientists have recently completed surveying the status of coral reef ...

National Coral Reef Monitoring Program Sampling in...

NOAA divers surfacing just offshore of Old San Juan. All diving operations were performed aboard the charter vessel Simply Caught 2, captained by Frank Askew. NOAA scientists are conducting surveys ...

New Research Sheds Light on Altered Freshwater Flo...

Bethany Williams and Arliss Winship pull in a trawl to survey fish in Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve. A new publication in Estuaries and Coasts demonstrates how human-altered freshwater ...

NOAA, USGS Investigate Mesophotic Coral Biology to...

Mesophotic and deep benthic communities were injured across a large area in the Gulf of Mexico by the Deepwater Horizon (DWH) oil spill in 2010. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric ...

Tracking Fish Movements to Understand Habitat Conn...

National marine sanctuaries protect America's most iconic natural and cultural marine resources. To assess the effectiveness of the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary (FGBNMS) at protecting habitat for key ...

NOAA Undergraduate Scholar Joins Gulf of Mexico Re...

In 2022, NOAA and partners completed eight expeditions in the Gulf of Mexico in support of four projects designed to help restore mesophotic and deep benthic communities damaged by the ...

Products

Maps, Tools & Applications

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Data & Publications

An assessment of chemical contaminants, toxicity and benthic infauna in sediments from the St. Thomas East End Reserves (STEER)

This report contains a chemical and biological characterization of sediments from the St. Thomas East End Reserves (STEER) in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI). The STEER Management Plan (published in 2011) identified chemical contaminants and habitat loss as high ...

An assessment of contaminant body burdens in the coral (Porites astreoides) and Queen conch (Strombus gigas) from the St. Thomas East End Reserves (STEER)

As part of the joint effort between the US Virgin Islands Department of Planning and Natural Resources and the NOAA Centers for Coastal and Ocean Science (NCCOS), to conduct a Reserves-wide impact assessment of land-based sources of pollution and effects ...

An Assessment of Tributyltin and Metals in Sediment Cores From the St. Thomas East End Reserves

This is the sixth report in a series from a project to assess land-based sources of pollution (LBSP) and their effects, and to characterize the biological community within the St. Thomas East End Reserves (STEER) in St. Thomas, USVI. Here ...

An ecological characterization of the Salt River Bay National Historical Park and Ecological Preserve, U.S. Virgin Islands

The diverse ecosystem within [the Salt River Bay National Historical Park and Ecological Preserve, U.S. Virgin Islands] includes a large mangrove forest, a submarine canyon, coral reefs, seagrass beds, coastal forests, and many other natural and developed landscape elements. ...

An ecological characterization of the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary region: Oceanographic, biogeographic, and contaminants assessment

This ecological characterization represents the continuation of an ongoing partnership between the National Marine Sanctuary Program (NMSP) and the National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS), Center for Coastal Monitoring and Assessment (CCMA). The purpose of this collaboration is to ...

An ecosystem services assessment using bioextraction technologies for removal of nitrogen and other substances in Long Island Sound and the Great Bay/Piscataqua Region Estuaries

A State-Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Nutrient Innovations Task Group concluded in a 2009 report (State -- EPA Nutrient Innovations Task Group, 2009) that 'continuing the status quo at the national, state, and local levels and relying upon our current practices ...

An integrated environmental assessment of the St. Thomas East End Reserves (STEER)

The St. Thomas East End Reserves, or STEER, is a collection of Marine Reserves and Wildlife Sanctuaries (MRWS) located on the southeastern end of the island of St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. With an area of approximately 9.6 km2 , ...

An introduction to NOAA's National Database for Deep-Sea Corals and Sponges

NOAA's Deep Sea Coral Research and Technology Program (DSCRTP) is compiling a national database of the locations of deep-sea corals and sponges, beginning in U.S. waters. The DSCRTP will make this information accessible to resource managers, the scientific community, and ...

Application of the Coastal and Marine Ecological Classification Standard (CMECS) to Deep-Sea Benthic Surveys in the Northeast Pacific: Lessons from Field Tests in 2015

The Coastal and Marine Ecological Classification Standard (CMECS) is a comprehensive, standard terminology published in 2014. The standard is intended to unify habitat classification efforts, in order to allow for broader integration and comparison of data. The standard is well-developed, ...

Archeolourinia shermani, a new genus and species of Louriniidae (Copepoda: Harpacticoida) from a Caribbean mesophotic zone

Mesophotic coral ecosystems (MCEs) are found on the insular and continental slopes of Caribbean islands and comprise mainly scleractinian corals, sponges and macroalgae. These species provide habitat for a highly diverse and specialized crustacean fauna. A new genus and species ...

General Pages

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NOAA Internship Opportunities

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