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NOAA
releases Coral Reef Ecosystem Research Plan
This story entered on 1st Mar, 2007
 On
March 1st, in conjunction with the U.S. Coral Reef Task Force meeting
in Washington, D.C., the NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program (CRCP)
released a new document entitled NOAA's
Coral Reef Ecosystem Research Plan for Fiscal Years 2007 to 2011.
The Coral Reef Research Plan provides coastal and ocean managers,
scientists, and policy makers withthe most up-to-date scientific
information to address the complex nature of the threats facing
coral reef ecosystems, and identifies priority research needed to
advance management action. NOAA Research (NOAA's Undersea Research
Program) and NOAA Ocean Service (National Centers for Coastal Ocean
Science) led the development of the Research Plan on behalf of the
CRCP.
Background:Two earlier NOAA reports,
The State of Coral Reef Ecosystems of the United States and Pacific
Freely Associated States: 2002 and 2005, summarized the status and
health of coral reef ecosystems throughout U.S. waters. Based on
these status reports, the Research Plan outlines the national and
regional research needed to address the many management challenges
presented by coral reef decline.
Significance:The NOAA Coral Reef
Ecosystem Research Plan is NOAA’s first agency-wide coral reef
ecosystem research plan. The Plan:
- Provides a national perspective on the stressors that
affect the condition of coral reef ecosystems – fishing,
pollution, coastal uses, invasive species, climate change, and
extreme events;
- Summarizes the management issues and information needs
that will drive research at the regional level;
- Describes what needs to be understood about coral reef
ecosystems and the stressors that affect them to implement effective
ecosystem-based management strategies;
- Covers all coral reef ecosystems under the jurisdiction of
the United States and the Pacific Freely Associated States;
and
- Builds on strategies identified in NOAA’s Strategic
Plan, NOAA’s five- and 20-year Research Plan, the National
Action Plan to Conserve Coral Reefs, the National Coral Reef Action
Strategy, and the U.S. Ocean Action Plan.
NOAA Coral Reef Ecosystem Research Plan (Full
Report).
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