As part of the NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program (CRCP) jurisdictional priority gathering, local agencies in Guam identified Cocos Lagoon as an area potentially impacted by land-based sources of pollution. The US Coast Guard operated a Long Range Navigation (LORAN) station on Cocos Island at the southern end of Cocos ...

Presidential Executive Order 13921 (E.O.), Promoting American Seafood Competitiveness and Economic Growth (May 7, 2020), called for the expansion of sustainable seafood production in the U.S. to ensure food security; provide environmentally safe and sustainable seafood; support American workers; establish coordinated, predictable, and transparent federal action; and remove unnecessary regulatory ...

Presidential Executive Order 13921 (E.O.), Promoting American Seafood Competitiveness and Economic Growth (May 7, 2020), called for the expansion of sustainable seafood production in the U.S. to ensure food security; provide environmentally safe and sustainable seafood; support American workers; establish coordinated, predictable, and transparent federal action; and remove unnecessary regulatory ...

This report is the second in a series from a project to assess land-based sources of pollution (LBSP) and effects in the St. Thomas East End Reserves (STEER) in St. Thomas, USVI, and is the result of a collaborative effort between NOAA's National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science, the USVI ...

This report is the first product from a collaborative effort to implement an 'ecosystem approach' to assess coral reef health. Through the concurrent development and analysis of data on chemical contaminants, reef biogeography, coral pathogens, biomarkers and land use, cause and effect linkages between stressors and coral condition can be ...

This report summarizes the results from a research project involving NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS) along with local partners and with funding from NOAA’s Coral Reef Conservation Program (CRCP), to characterize dissolved concentrations of chemical contamiants in the water column around Cocos Island in Cocos Lagoon, Guam ...

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 or very high threats and called for a characterization of ...

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 in the St. Thomas East End Reserves (STEER), contaminant body ...

NOAA’s National Status and Trends (NS&T) Mussel Watch Program conducted regional pilot studies to assess the magnitude and distribution of contaminants of emerging concern (CEC) in shellfish and sediment from different coastal zones. In 2015, oyster and surficial sediment samples from study areas in the Chesapeake Bay, Maryland, and Charleston ...

Environmental windows or moratoria are used by federal and state regulators in resource management to temporarily reduce adverse environmental impacts associated with coastal development. Moratoria are seasonal restrictions on construction activities to protect migrations of fish, sensitive life stages of aquatic organisms, and threatened and endangered species. Broad categories of ...

This is the fifth report from a project to assess land-based sources of pollution (LSBPs) and their effects, and to characterize the biological community with the St. Thomas East End Reserves (Steer) in St. Thomas, USVI. Here we summarize the results of nearly two years of monthly monitoring for nutrients, ...

This report, which represents the first national assessment of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) in the U.S. coastal zone, shows that they are widely distributed. PBDE concentrations in both sediment and bivalve tissue correlate with human population density along the U.S. coastline. The national and watershed perspectives given in this report ...

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 we summarize the results of a study to assess the ...

Information found in this report covers the years 1986 through 2005. Mussel Watch began monitoring a suite of trace metals and organic contaminants such as DDT, PCBs and PAHs. Through time additional chemicals were added, and today approximately 140 analytes are monitored. The Mussel Watch Program is the longest running ...

Rising sea level represents a significant threat to coastal communities and ecosystems, including altered habitats and increased vulnerability to coastal storms and recurrent inundation. This threat is exemplified in the northern Gulf of Mexico, where low topography, marshes, and a prevalence of tropical storms have resulted in extensive coastal impacts ...

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. ... A comprehensive spatial inventory of these ecosystems is required for ...

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 apply a biogeographical approach to the management of marine resources ...

This report provides findings from an analysis and evaluation of the economic effects of potential measures to manage the co-occurrence of shipping traffic and whales in the Channel Islands region off the coast of California. These potential management measures are part of one of two different approaches developed by members ...

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 and control strategies will not support a positive public health ...

The objective of this report is to identify and evaluate existing datasets related to the distribution of marine mammals along the Northwest coast of the United States which can support Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) by the State of Washington. In this report, we consider the degree to which existing datasets ...