WRITTEN TESTIMONY OF
TIMOTHY R.E. KEENEY
HEARING ON
REAUTHORIZATION OF THE CORAL REEF CONSERVATION ACT OF 2000
COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES
SUBCOMMITTEE ON FISHERIES, WILDLIFE AND OCEANS
Madam Chairwoman and Members of the Committee, thank you for inviting me to appear before you today. I am Timothy Keeney, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Oceans and Atmosphere at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), in the Department of Commerce. I also serve as co-chair of the United States Coral Reef Task Force (CRTF).
We are pleased to see that many Committee members are interested in working on reauthorization of the Coral Reef Conservation Act, as evidenced by the recent introduction of H.R. 1205 and the support of Representatives Faleomavaega, Bordallo, Christensen, and Abercrombie. NOAA is actively working with our federal partners on an Administration bill to reauthorize the Act. We are reviewing H.R. 1205 and request an opportunity to supply comments on the bill.
NOAA’s mission is to understand and predict changes in the
Earth’s environment and to conserve and manage coastal, marine, and
Why Coral Reefs
Are Important
Coral reefs, often called the “rainforests of the sea,” are among the oldest and most diverse ecosystems on the planet and have become an integral part of the culture, heritage, and economies of societies around the world. These ecosystems are important for economic and environmental benefits they provide in the form of food, jobs, natural products, pharmaceuticals, and shoreline protection.
Coral reef ecosystems have survived for millions of years,
weathering impacts of natural disturbances like severe storm events and
tsunamis. However, natural stressors are
now being compounded by the warming of oceans associated with natural and
anthropogenic climate change, and human-induced factors including pollution,
overfishing, and physical damage such as ship groundings. A combination of stressors has caused a rapid
decline in the health of many coral reef ecosystems globally, and if left
unchecked this decline will lead to significant social, economic, and
environmental consequences. For example,
staghorn and
What NOAA Has
Accomplished Under the CRCA of 2000
In 2000, Congress enacted the CRCA, which established a national program to conduct activities to conserve coral reefs, leading to the creation of the NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program (CRCP). The CRCA authorizes NOAA to carry out a number of activities to promote the wise management and sustainable use of coral reef ecosystems, to develop sound scientific information on the condition of coral reef ecosystems, and to assist in the preservation of coral reefs by supporting external conservation programs. The CRCA also calls for the creation of a national strategy.
The CRCP, through efforts across NOAA, supports and
implements coral reef conservation projects within
In the six years since its inception, the CRCP has worked to build capacity locally within U.S. coral jurisdictions and internationally in key areas: to map, monitor, characterize, restore, research, and assess the condition of coral reef ecosystems; provide management support; understand the threats to healthy coral reef ecosystems; and promote public awareness and education on the value of and threats to coral reef ecosystems. To accomplish its statutory requirements, the CRCP relies heavily on a network of governmental and non-governmental partners to assist in the cooperative conservation and management of coral reef ecosystems. The Program operates under an ecosystem-based management philosophy, keeping in mind the interconnectedness of terrestrial and marine ecosystems and striving to proactively protect these resources.
In 2002, NOAA, in cooperation with the CRTF, published A National Coral Reef Action Strategy. I would like to discuss some of our successes in implementing the CRCA and the action strategy.
Addressing the
threat of coral bleaching
Coral bleaching occurs when corals are stressed by
temperature and light, and expel the symbiotic algae living in their tissues. Bleaching that lasts longer than one week can
lead to coral death and loss of coral reef habitats for other marine life. In August 2005, the CRCP’s new Coral Reef
Watch Satellite Bleaching Alert system sounded the warning of an oncoming
warming event in the
Working in
partnership
NOAA, in collaboration with state and territory partners,
conducted the first comprehensive, nationwide inventory and assessment of all
coral reef protected areas managed by states and territories. This assessment, unveiled at the CRTF meeting
held here in
NOAA’s efforts under the CRCA have also addressed the threat
to reefs from marine debris and abandoned vessels. Derelict fishing gear from distant water
fisheries is the greatest anthropogenic impact to the coral reefs surrounding
the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI).
NOAA leads a partnership with the State of
In 2006, NOAA’s Coral Reef Conservation Program (CRCP)
awarded almost $10 million in grants to external partners in support of coral
reef research, education, management, and conservation. Representing over 35 percent of the CRCP
budget for 2006, these awards reflect NOAA’s strong support for cooperative
partnerships and conservation efforts outside the agency. Funds supported a range of activities, from
community conservation projects to large-scale coral reef observation systems,
and included support for three coral reef research institutes – one each in
NOAA, in cooperation with its partners, plays a major role
in international coral reef conservation and we participate in efforts such as
the International Coral Reef Initiative (ICRI).
ICRI supports international coral reef research and management efforts,
including the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network. In fact, the CRTF and NOAA’s partnership with
the global scientific community led to the
Collecting and
disseminating data and information to better understand reefs
Partnering with other federal agencies as well as state and
territorial governments, NOAA has helped build a national integrated reef
monitoring system. Integrated monitoring
programs measure and evaluate the condition of the ecosystem over time, help
assess the efficacy of management actions, and provide comparable data sets and
products that can be used to adapt these measures. In 2005, NOAA produced the second State of
Another of NOAA’s goals is to produce comprehensive digital
habitat maps of all
Outreach and education activities to build public awareness
and local capacity are another way NOAA promotes sustainable management of
coral reef ecosystems. NOAA has reached
out to stakeholders both by creating and distributing educational materials and
conducting workshops and training modules.
NOAA has also assisted state and territorial governments in enhancing
their human resource capacity for marine resource management by providing
technical trainings and workshops for managers, by creating internship and
fellowship programs within the jurisdictions and in
The value of the
NOAA continues to play an active role in the CRTF. CRTF was established by Executive Order in 1998 and is composed of twelve federal agencies, seven states and territories, and the three freely associated states. As co-chair of the CRTF with DOI, NOAA leads the planning of the biannual CRTF meetings, which provide an important venue for the exchange of information in which members can voice concerns about their coral reef conservation efforts and collaborate with colleagues to find more effective alternatives. Many of NOAA’s coral reef conservation efforts are the result of partnerships with the various federal agencies and state and territory governments on the CRTF.
To assist with on-the-ground management of threats to coral
reefs, the CRTF adopted a resolution in 2002, which called for the development
of Local Action Strategies (LAS) by each of the seven
As I have outlined, the authority provided to NOAA under the CRCA has yielded many benefits to coral reef management and protection. The President’s FY 2008 budget request includes $25.8 million for the Coral Reef Conservation Program. Funding at this level would provide an additional $1.0 million over what was enacted in 2006 that would be used to further implement LAS mentioned earlier. NOAA’s continuing coral reef conservation efforts will include forming new international partnerships and fostering coral protection by recreational interests.
Reauthorization of the CRCA
The
above sample of recent accomplishments represents intermediate steps towards
achieving the goals of the National Coral
Reef Action Strategy. Much remains
to be done to halt the degradation of coral reefs. Reauthorization of the CRCA is an important step for continuing our work to protect and
restore coral reefs in the
One of the significant threats to coral reefs is mechanical injury to reefs from ship groundings, improper anchoring, and other events that can destroy the physical reef structure. When these activities take place, it is critical to be able to respond to the incident as quickly as possible. Response within 72 hours is important to mitigate the damage by righting and reattaching broken live coral and stabilizing the reef structure. In addition, any grounded vessel should be removed by trained experts as soon as possible to minimize the damage to the coral. Finally, once the initial response is completed, it is important to be able to restore the reef as close to its previous state as possible. Although the CRCA provides the authority for NOAA to give emergency grants for addressing unforeseen or disaster-related circumstances, we have never implemented this provision. Due to the amount of time that it takes to process a grant, this is not an appropriate vehicle for responding to an emergency situation. In some instances, when the threat of an oil spill exists, some funding may be available under the Oil Pollution Act, but we have numerous examples where NOAA has no jurisdiction or funding to respond.
In
Five coral reef groundings were reported to the U.S. Coast Guard (widely
believed to be only a small percentage of the actual number) in
Although the federal
government has clear statutory authority to address coral reef damage from
groundings in designated protected areas such as national parks and national
marine sanctuaries, our authority to respond to groundings that occur outside
of such areas is more limited. The
Administration believes that making such authority applicable to appropriate
Federal agencies involved in coral reef conservation would enable the Federal
government to more effectively respond to damaging events. Appropriate authority would allow agencies to
respond to events and recover from the responsible party the costs for both
this response and carrying out, where necessary, comprehensive damage
assessment and restoration activities on injured coral reefs.
The Administration and Congress have recognized the value of the CRCP. It would be appropriate to recognize this support by authorizing the CRCA at the President’s FY 2008 request level of $25.8 million, and ensure that an adequate portion of this funding is available for effective program administration. Further, the current language allocating the appropriations between the grant and the national programs is confusing and contradictory. This language requires clarification, which could be accomplished by either outlining how funding should be allocated across all sections of the CRCA or by providing NOAA the flexibility to make allocation decisions to meet the highest priority national needs.
Under the authorities provided in the CRCA much progress has been made toward understanding and protecting coral reefs. Addressing the issues mentioned above would greatly enhance NOAA’s ability to meet the goals set forth in the Action Strategy.
Conclusion
The CRCA is an important tool that provides us with authority and funding authorization for the scientific understanding, protection, and management of these highly important and fragile ecosystems. We strongly encourage you to reauthorize the CRCA and look forward to working with you as you further develop your bill. Thank you for your time and consideration. I would be happy to answer any questions you might have.