NOAA Technical Memorandum Archives - Page 3 of 23 - NCCOS - National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science

An Assessment of Fisheries Species to Inform Time-of-Year Restrictions for North Carolina and South Carolina

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 coastal development activities that may … Read more

Prioritizing Areas for Future Seafloor Mapping, Research, and Exploration Offshore of California, Oregon, and Washington

Spatial information about the seafloor is critical for decision-making by marine science, management and tribal organizations. While this type of information is important, its collection is expensive, time consuming and logistically intensive. Developing a network of partners and coordinating data needs can help overcome these challenges by leveraging collective resources to meet shared goals. To … Read more

Using Acoustic Telemetry to Understand Connectivity of Gray’s Reef National Sanctuary to the U.S. Atlantic Coastal Ocean

This study analyzed nearly ten years of acoustic telemetry monitoring at Gray’s Reef National Marine Sanctuary, to understand its role in fish movements along the U.S. Atlantic coast. Designated in 1981, Gray’s Reef lies 17 miles off the coast of Georgia where water depths are ~60-70 feet and the habitat is comprised of a mosaic … Read more

Comprehensive Seafloor Substrate Mapping and Model Validation in the New York Bight

Prior to this study, NOAA NCCOS has conducted previous efforts to characterize the ocean floor offshore NY. For example, as part of the NY Department of State’s renewable energy planning efforts and its Offshore Atlantic Ocean Study, released in July 2013, NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS) developed a biogeographic assessment with maps … Read more

Council Monitoring and Assessment Program (CMAP): Inventory of Existing Habitat and Water Quality Monitoring, and Mapping Metadata for the Gulf of Mexico Programs

Under the Resources and Ecosystem Sustainability, Tourist Opportunities, and Revived Economies of the Gulf Coast States Act of 2012 (RESTORE Act), the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council (RESTORE Council or Council ) is required to report on the progress of funded projects and programs. Systematic monitoring of restoration at the project-specific and programmatic-levels (watershed and … Read more

A Pilot Survey of Deepwater Coral/Sponge Assemblages and their Susceptibility to Fishing/Harvest Impacts at the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary (OCNMS): Cruise Report for NOAA Ship McARTHUR II Cruise AR-04-04 Leg 2

The offshore shelf and canyon habitats of the OCNMS (Fig. 1) are areas of high primary productivity and biodiversity that support extensive groundfish fisheries. Recent acoustic surveys conducted in these waters have indicated the presence of hard-bottom substrates believed to harbor unique deep-sea coral and sponge assemblages. Such fauna are often associated with shallow tropical … Read more

Deep Coral and Associated Species Taxonomy and Ecology (DeepCAST) II Expedition report

The Deep Coral & Associated Species Taxonomy & Ecology (DeepCAST) II Expedition explored depths below the Meso-American Reef in Roatán, Honduras from 21- 28 May 2011. The team made six submersible dives between 1200 and 2200 feet deep (365 and 670 meters), conducting photo and video transects to estimate coral and sponge diversity and abundance, … Read more

Survey and impact assessment of derelict fish traps in St. Thomas and St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands

Since 2001, NOAA National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS) has been working with federal and territorial partners to characterize, monitor, and assess the status of the marine environment across the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI). At the request of the St. Thomas Fisherman’s Association (STFA) and NOAA Marine Debris Program, NCCOS developed new partnerships and … Read more

Moderate-Depth Benthic Habitats of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands

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 Monitoring and Assessment’s Biogeography Branch in partnership with the U.S. National Park Service (NPS), was … Read more

Shallow-water benthic habitats of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands

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 required to create a benthic habitat map from visual interpretation of remotely sensed imagery. Chapter … Read more