NOAA's Coral Reef Conservation Program: Reauthorization of the Coral Reef Conservation Act

Staghorn coral (Acropora cervicornis), listed as 'Threatened' in 2006, provides a backdrop for French grunts on a reef in Puerto Rico.
Photo Credit: Andy Bruckner

This page provides background and information on the Administration's proposed reauthorization of the Coral Reef Conservation Act of 2000. Background documents are available for download to the right in 'key documents'.

What are Coral Reefs?

Why are Coral Reefs Important?

What is the Coral Reef Conservation Act (CRCA) of 2000?

How Does NOAA Currently Utilize the CRCA of 2000?

What are the Goals of the Administration's Reauthorization Proposal?

What are Coral Reefs?

Corals are anthozoans, the largest class of organisms within the phylum Cnidaria. Comprising over 6,000 known species, anthozoans also include sea fans, sea pansies and anemones. Stony corals (scleractinians) make up the largest order of anthozoans, and are the group primarily responsible for laying the foundations of, and building up, reef structures. For the most part, scleractinians are colonial organisms composed of hundreds to hundreds of thousands of individuals, called polyps.

Most cnidarians, coral included, contain a symbiotic algae called zooxanthellae. The coral provides the algae with a protected environment and the compounds necessary for photosynthesis. In return, the algae produce oxygen and help the coral to remove wastes. Most importantly, they supply the coral with organic products of photosynthesis which are utilized by the coral as building blocks in the manufacture of proteins, fats, and carbohydrates, as well as synthesis of the calcium carbonate (CaCO3) necessary for reef-building. Although all corals secrete CaCO3, not all are reef builders. Sponges, sea whips, sea fans, and ahermatypic (non-reef-building) corals become increasingly abundant and gradually replace hermatypic (reef-building) corals in deeper, darker water.

Click here to learn more about coral reefs, including the anatomy of an individual coral polyp, various forms of coral and types of reefs, geographic distribution, reef biology, major coral diseases, major threats to reefs, and much more.

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Why are Coral Reefs Important?

Coral reefs, and their associated sea grass and mangrove habitats, are among the most diverse and valuable ecosystems on earth. Such reef systems are storehouses of immense biological wealth and provide economic, cultural, and environmental services to millions of people as shoreline protection, areas of natural beauty, recreation and tourism, and sources of food, pharmaceuticals, jobs, and revenues.

According to one estimate, these "rainforests of the sea" provide services worldwide worth about $375 billion each year -- a staggering figure for an ecosystem which covers less than one percent of the earth's surface. In the U.S., over 50% of all federally managed fisheries species depend upon coral reefs for part of their life cycle. In developing countries, coral reefs contribute about one-quarter of the total fish catch, providing food to an estimated one billion people in Asia alone. In addition, reefs support at least a million described species of animals and plants, including over 800 hard coral species. It is estimated that another eight million species are as yet undiscovered.

Now under threat from multiple stressors that are overwhelming their natural resilience, coral reefs are deteriorating worldwide at alarming rates. Click here to learn more about some of the benefits that healthy reefs provide and to learn how NOAA is working to remediate the threats facing reefs.

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What is the Coral Reef Conservation Act (CRCA) of 2000?

In 2000, Congress enacted the Coral Reef Conservation Act (CRCA), which authorized appropriations to NOAA for coral reef protection and management through 2004. The CRCA provided NOAA with additional authority to undertake a number of activities to understand, manage and protect coral reef ecosystems by authorizing five major activities:

(1) The CRCA requires NOAA to draft and submit to Congress a National Coral Reef Action Strategy (NAS), including a statement of goals and objectives and an implementation plan. The NAS was submitted to Congress by NOAA in 2002, and a report on U.S. Coral Reef Task Force activities to implement the NAS was submitted to Congress by NOAA in July 2005.

(2) The CRCA authorizes the CRCP to provide matching grants for coral reef conservation projects to states, territories, educational and non-governmental institutions, and fishery management councils. NOAA submitted a report on the Coral Reef Conservation Grants Program to Congress in December 2003.

(3) The CRCA authorizes establishment of the Coral Reef Conservation Fund. Through the Fund, NOAA works with the non-profit National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to build public-private partnerships to reduce and prevent degradation of coral reefs.

(4) The CRCA provides additional authority for NOAA to implement a national program to conserve coral reef ecosystems. Through the CRCP, NOAA conducts activities such as mapping, monitoring, assessment, research, and restoration that benefit coral reef ecosystems; enhancing public awareness of such ecosystems; assisting states to remove abandoned vessels and marine debris from reefs; and conducting cooperative management of coral reef ecosystems.

(5) Lastly, the CRCA provides the NOAA Administrator the authority to provide grants to state and local governments to respond to unforeseen or disaster-related coral reef emergencies. This last authority has not been effectively implemented as grants are not an efficient mechanism for addressing emergency events. Due to the lengthy grants awarding process, funding would not be immediately available to state and local governments to minimize damage to coral reefs during an emergency injury event and to support time-sensitive emergency response and restoration activities.

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How Does NOAA Currently Utilize the CRCA of 2000?

The Coral Reef Conservation Program (CRCP), through efforts across NOAA, supports and implements coral reef conservation projects within the U.S. jurisdictions and waters with shallow-water coral reefs. This includes Florida, Hawai`i, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Navassa Island in the Caribbean, the remote U.S. island territories in the Pacific, and the surrounding U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone. The CRCP also supports activities with partners to support coral reef conservation projects outside U.S. jurisdictions. It relies heavily on a network of governmental and non-governmental partners to assist in accomplishing its statutory mission. Research, monitoring and management activities are coordinated with several NOAA offices, and with other federal, state, and non-governmental partners. The Coral Reef Conservation Act applies to shallow-water coral reefs, and therefore the CRCP has not extended its activities using funds authorized by the CRCA to include deep corals (also known as deep-sea or cold-water corals). Deep corals have a much broader geographic distribution in U.S. waters.

The Dendronephthya genus of soft coral lacks zooxanthellae and is widely studied to find useful chemical compounds. Photo credit: Dwayne Meadows.

In the six years since its inception, the CRCP has worked to build capacity locally within the seven U.S. coral jurisdictions and internationally in key areas; map, monitor, characterize, restore, research, and assess the condition of coral reef ecosystems; provide support for marine protected areas; understand the threats to healthy coral reef ecosystems; and promote public awareness and education on the value of and threats to coral reef ecosystems. The Program operates under an ecosystem-based management philosophy by considering the many natural resources that make up a coral reef ecosystem, and the human impacts and uses of those resources. The CRCP strives to keep in mind the interconnectedness of terrestrial and marine ecosystems and to proactively protect

our nation's coral reef resources. To learn more about the CRCP and its actions over the last six years, visit the 'About' page or the 'Accomplishments' page.

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What are the Goals of the Administration's Reauthorization Proposal?

The goals of the Administration proposal are to provide strong protection for all of the nation's shallow-water coral reef ecosystems and to build a wider foundation for the federal government's coral reef conservation activities. The Coral Reef Conservation Act (CRCA) of 2000 provides NOAA with powerful tools to study, manage and protect coral reef ecosystems. However, many of the nation's coral reef ecosystems remain vulnerable to ongoing and emerging threats, including vessel groundings. On May 8, 2007, the Department of Commerce transmitted to Congress an Administration proposal, the Coral Reef Ecosystem Conservation Amendments Act (CRECAA) of 2007 that strengthens the protection and restoration of our nation's coral reefs by providing expanded authorities to the Secretary of Commerce and the Secretary of the Interior. The Administration proposal addresses the following issues:

Adds new areas of emphasis to the National Program and Coral Reef Conservation Program (CRCP) to address new and emerging threats to coral reef ecosystems.
Provides for consistent guidelines for maintaining environmental data, products, and information.
Augments authorities to allow for stronger partnerships between the federal government and its partners. These partners include state governments, who are responsible for managing much of the nation's coral reef habitat.
Provides a suite of tools to facilitate response to and restoration of injury to coral reefs. (See a video of past coral restoration work.) With this proposal, the federal government would be able to conduct emergency response activities to address coral damage, carry-out long-term restoration on impacted coral reefs, and hold responsible parties liable for injury to coral resources.
Provides for direct removal of marine debris by the federal government. Marine debris is a chronic and long-term threat to the health and stability of our nation's shallow-water coral reefs.
Enhances the Department of the Interior's ability to provide technical assistance to States and territories and carry out their research and management objectives.

For more specific details on the changes proposed in the CRECAA, download the section-by-section analysis or the CRCA strikethrough, a document that superimposes the changes proposed in the CRECAA over the original CRCA.

The Administration looks forward to working with Congress to address these issues in its reauthorization of the CRCA of 2000.

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Administration Releases Coral Reef Ecosystem Conservation Amendments Act (CRECAA) of 2007