NOAA’s South Florida Ecosystem Research and Monitoring Program (SFP) is a coordinated effort between NOAA/NOS, NOAA/OAR, and NOAA/NMFS and is locally managed with offices at both the Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory in Miami and the Florida Bay Interagency Science Center in Key Largo. This ensures the closest possible integration with our federal and state partners in the Florida Bay and Adjacent Marine Systems Science Program and the greater South Florida Ecosystem Restoration (SFER) effort, particularly the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP).

Over the years, SFP has supported a diverse suite of research and operational monitoring and modeling efforts. Activities currently underway include long-term oceanographic observations, targeted ecosystem research, socioeconomic research, data and information synthesis, modeling, education and outreach, and regional program integration. These activities are consistent with priorities expressed by peer reviews conducted by the Science Oversight Panel (SOP) for the interagency Florida Bay and Adjacent Marine Systems Science Program (FBAMS), the Sanctuary Advisory Council of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary (FKNMS), and the National Research Council’s Committee for the Restoration of the Greater Everglades Ecosystem (CROGEE) and specifically include the monitoring and assessment elements that the draft CERP Monitoring and Assessment Plan assumes will be the responsibility of NOAA.

While NOAA’s financial contribution to the overall SFER and CERP efforts is relatively small, with regard to the coastal ecosystem, NOAA has consistently exercised leadership and has been the major contributor to the interagency science effort. NOAA is specifically responsible for the coastal marine ecosystem, its living marine resources and protected species, and the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary including the recently implemented Tortugas Ecological Reserve, the nation’s largest marine reserve.

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