Featured Coral Projects
Below is a sampling of projects supported by NOAA's Coral Reef Conservation Program. To access a complete list of NOAA coral ecosystem related publications and data, use the CoRIS Geoportal (http://coris.noaa.gov/geoportal/) search tool.
Ocean acidification (OA) represents a direct chemical change to global ocean chemistry in response to rising levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide. Resources in this DVD are targeted for high school science educators combing introductory and in-depth materials.
The 2008 Coral Reef Educational Resources CD is a collection of coral reef education and outreach materials created by state and federal agencies as well as non-profit organizations that are part of the Education and Outreach Working Group of the US Coral Reef Task Force (USCRTF). The materials cover a wide-range of topics related to coral reefs, including basic coral biology, coral reef ecosystems, human use, threats, and conservation efforts.
Coral reefs are among the most valuable ecosystems on earth, providing people with goods and services that include food, storm protection, and recreational opportunities. Despite their importance, coral reef ecosystems are in decline from a myriad of man-made and natural threats. In response, the NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program established an integrated and focused monitoring effort with partners across the U.S. - the National Coral Reef Monitoring Program (NCRMP). This program is a strategic framework for conducting sustained observations of biological, climatic, and socioeconomic indicators in U.S. states and territories. The resulting data provide a robust picture of the condition of U.S. coral reef ecosystems and the communities connected to them.
This project provides an assessment framework for evaluating the impacts of land-based sources of
pollution (LBSP) on the coral reef ecosystem in southeast coastal waters of Martin, Palm Beach, Broward,
and Miami-Dade counties. Rapid population growth and intense increases in land development in this
region over the past 50-100 years have put the coral reef ecosystem and supporting estuarine habitats
under significant stress. Pollutants from these land-based human activities include nutrients (e.g.
nitrogen and phosphorus), sediments, pathogens pharmaceutical and personal care products, and other
LBSPs. These pollutants are discharged to the southeast Florida coastal ecosystem in large part in
stormwater runoff (both urban and agricultural) and wastewater effluent and the management of
stormwater and wastewater in southeast Florida affects the pollutants loads and ecosystem impacts. The purpose of this document is to assist the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
and other Southeast Florida Coral Reef Initiative (SEFCRI) partners in tackling the problems associated
with LBSP by identifying sources of pollution, data availability and gaps, and sources of information from
past planning and management activities in southeastern Florida. This report creates a watershed-based
framework for understanding and assessing the pollutant sources and loads, and uses nine coastal
inlets in the region as the basis for defining the contributing watersheds. This report will provide a
roadmap for future LBSP-related data collection and pollution reduction efforts in southeast Florida.
NOAA Coral Reef Watch is pleased to announce the release of its new
Daily 5-km Satellite Coral Bleaching Thermal Stress Monitoring Product Suite (including new
5-km Regional Virtual Stations) and improved (Version 3.0)
Four-Month Coral Bleaching Thermal Stress Outlook. While access to Coral Reef Watch's well-known heritage suite of
50-km operational satellite coral bleaching monitoring products will still be possible for the next several months, all users are encouraged to look over the new 5-km products and Four-Month Bleaching Outlook and provide feedback to Coral Reef Watch at:
coralreefwatch@noaa.gov.
The American Samoa Watershed and Coastal Uses Mapping project developed cartographic products derived from participatory mapping conducted in Utulei - Faga’alu, and Fatumafuti, American Samoa in January 2014. These are based on information gathered through participatory mapping workshops held in each village, where participatory GIS methods were used to generate spatial data on coastal and watershed uses and characteristics.The project is intended to fill a critical information gap regarding human activities and issues relating to water
quality in these coastal watersheds, which include a NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program priority watershed
site, in order to better inform planning and management activities.
NOAA's Coral Reef Conservation Program (CRCP) publishes Federal Funding Opportunities (FFOs) in the Federal Register to solicit proposals for coral reef conservation activities, as authorized by the Coral Reef Conservation Act of 2000 (CRCA). This page highlights some of the products produced through the Coral Program's various financial assistance awards. For general information about the NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Grant Program please visit the CRCP website.
An important component of NOAA's Coral Program efforts to protect coral reef ecosystems from land based sources of pollution (LBSP) has been the development of watershed management plans (WMPs) and conservation action plans. WMPs and CAPs outline a comprehensive set of actions and an overall management strategy for improving and protecting each jurisdiction's priority watershed sites from nonpoint and point sources of pollution. By providing technical assistance to the jurisdictions, fostering institutional partnerships and leveraging financial resources, NOAA and our partners are supporting the management of land-based activities to effectively address the impacts of LBSP.
Coral reefs and the services they provide are seriously threatened by ocean acidification and climate change impacts like coral bleaching. Here, updated global projections for these key threats to coral reefs are presented based on ensembles of the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) climate models using the new Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) experiments. All projections presented within van Hooidonk et al. (2013) are shown in a Google Earth file presented on this web page.
The American Samoa Coastal Use Mapping project conducted in Pago Pago, American Samoa in July 2012. Data was obtained through a participatory GIS workshop designed to gather spatial data on human uses of the coastal and nearshore marine environment in the greater Pago Pago Harbor region known as Fagaloa. The project was intended to fill a critical information gap regarding the spatial distribution of human activities in the American Samoa Coral Reef Strategy priority site in order to better inform planning and management activities.
The Socio-economic Component of the National Coral Reef Monitoring Plan (NCRMP) will gather and monitor a collection of socio-economic variables, including demographics in coral reef areas, human use of coral reef resources, as well as knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions of coral reefs and coral reef management. The overall goal of the socio-economic monitoring component is to track relevant information regarding each jurisdiction’s population, social and economic structure, the impacts of society on coral reefs, and the impacts of coral management on communities. NOAA’s Coral Reef Conservation Program (CRCP) will use the information for research and to improve the results of programs designed to protect coral reefs.
The STEER Coastal Use Mapping Project was designed to collect critical information on human activities in and near the St. Thomas East End Reserves (STEER). The project purpose is to improve understanding of the spatial range and intensity of key human activities and uses in this region in order to better inform resource management. Workshops were held on St. Thomas in May 2012, where local experts participated in creating maps of ocean uses for the STEER. Draft maps were presented to the workshop participants and other stakeholders in October 2012 for feedback and edits. The maps were finalized in November 2012. Products include a map book, a supplemental map product, and GIS data files.
