Over the past four decades, the state of Hawaii has developed a system of eleven Marine Life Conservation Districts (MLCDs) to conserve and replenish marine resources around the state. Initially established to provide opportunities for public interaction with the marine ...

NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS)-Center for Coastal Monitoring and Assessment’s (CCMA) Biogeography Branch, National Park Service (NPS), US Geological Survey, and the University of Hawaii used acoustic telemetry to quantify spatial patterns and habitat affinities of reef ...

This Southern Florida Shallow-water Coral Ecosystem Mapping Implementation Plan (MIP) presents a framework for the development of shallow-water ( -0-40 m; 0-22 fm) benthic habitat and bathymetric maps of critical areas in southern Florida. It also discusses the need to ...

This Freely Associated States Shallow-water Coral Ecosystem Mapping Implementation Plan (FAS MIP) presents a framework for the development of shallow-water (~0-40 m; 0-22 fm) benthic habitat and possibly bathymetric maps of critical areas of the Freely Associated States (FAS). The ...

This report describes the creation and assessment of a moderate-depth benthic habitat map for the Virgin Islands Coral Reef National Monument (VICRNM) south of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. The objective of this effort, conducted by NOAA's Center for Coastal ...

Hawaii's coastal marine resources have declined dramatically over the past 100 years due to multiple anthropogenic stressors including overfishing, coastal development, pollution, overuse, invasive species and climate change. It is now becoming evident that ecosystem-based management, in the form of ...

The Virgin Islands Coral Reef National Monument (VICRNM) was created to expand the protection of the marine ecosystems around St. John. Monument boundaries were not designed using ecological criteria, but were instead the result of historical land ownership and the ...

This data compilation includes benthic and fish survey data collected in St. Croix, St. John and St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands (USVI); La Parguera, Guanica, Jobos Bay, and Vieques, Puerto Rico; and Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary (FGBNMS) in ...

This report documents the entire process of benthic habitat mapping in St. John. Chapter 1 provides a description of the benthic habitat classification scheme used to categorize the different habitats existing in the nearshore environment. Chapter 2 describes the steps ...

The purpose of this report is to provide an assessment of the current condition of coral reef ecosystems in U.S. jurisdictions, including the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Navassa, Florida, Flower Garden Banks and other banks of the Gulf of ...