TESTIMONY OF
DIRECTOR
NOAA
NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION
BEFORE THE
COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT REFORM
Field Hearing on Progress Made in Safeguarding
August 20, 2004
Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee, I am
NOAA has been a partner in the Chesapeake Bay Program since
1984, when the Northeast Regional Office of the National Marine Fisheries
Service (NOAA Fisheries) first entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with
the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), establishing the participation of
NOAA in the Chesapeake Bay Program.
Between 1984 and 1991, NOAA Fisheries administered fisheries research
and assessment grants, serving as chair of the Chesapeake Bay Stock Assessment
Committee. The NOAA Chesapeake Bay
Office was established through congressional authorization in 1992, beginning a
new era of strengthened NOAA Bay Program involvement, including co-location of
the new office and staff with the EPA-led Chesapeake Bay Program in
I am particularly pleased to be here representing NOAA. We in the NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office are
proud not only of the programs we administer, but also of the broad range of
science, service and stewardship activities represented by our agency at large. NOAA’s missions in ecosystem management,
weather and water, commerce and transportation, and climate all have
applications in the context of
My testimony today will focus on the issues you requested in
the letter of invitation: (1) NOAA’s
role in support of the Chesapeake Bay Program in its mission to clean up the
Bay (particularly as it pertains to the Chesapeake 2000 Agreement) and (2) the
issue of modeling versus monitoring as it relates to accurately reporting on
progress. I will conclude with some
remarks on emerging NOAA capabilities and programs that could further assist in
restoring
NOAA’s Role in the
NOAA’s role in the Chesapeake Bay Program derives from
NOAA’s mission as an agency, the statutory mandate for the NOAA Chesapeake Bay
Program, and the Chesapeake 2000 (C2K) Agreement, whereby EPA is the signatory
on behalf of the Federal partnership that includes NOAA. I will describe the specific programs and
activities of the NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office as they relate to the C2K
Agreement and briefly mention NOAA-wide programs that support overall
As a partner in the Chesapeake Bay Program, NOAA works towards specific commitments of the C2K Agreement:
· By 2010, achieve, at a minimum, a 10-fold increase in native oysters
· Address exotic and invasive species, ballast water
· By 2003, revise fishery management plans for migratory fish
· By 2004, assess menhaden, oysters and clams
· By 2005, develop multi-species management plans
· By 2007, implement multi-species management plans
· For blue crabs, establish targets and manage species
· For submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV), accelerate protection and restoration
· For toxics, understand effects and impacts
· By 2003, assess effects of airborne nitrogen compounds
· For education, provide a meaningful Bay or stream experience for all students in the watershed, beginning with the class of 2005
· For community engagement, provide small watershed grants
The Chesapeake Bay Program recently established a set of “keystone commitments” for Bay restoration. NOAA is the lead for four of these keystones:
· By 2010, achieve, at a minimum, a 10-fold increase in native oysters
· By 2005, develop multi-species management plans
· For SAV, accelerate protection and restoration
· Provide a meaningful Bay or stream experience for all students in the watershed, beginning with the class of 2005
I will focus on these “keystone commitments” in describing the programs of the NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office.
Oyster Restoration/Non-native Oyster Research (By 2010, achieve, at a minimum, a 10-fold increase in native oysters)
NOAA is the lead
federal agency for
In addition to
restoration support, oyster disease research funding from NOAA Sea Grant
continues to address disease vector and management strategies, including
development of disease diagnostic tools, development of potentially
disease-resistant strains of native oysters, and evaluation of the possible
introduction of alternative oyster species.
Since 2002, the NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office has funded research on the
non-native Asian oyster, Crassostrea ariakensis, proposed for
introduction into Chesapeake Bay by the states of
Fisheries/Multi-species Management (By 2005, develop
multi-species management plans)
Fisheries in Chesapeake Bay contribute significantly to
The NOAA Chesapeake
Bay Office chairs a Fisheries Steering Committee for Chesapeake Bay, composed
of members from each of the Bay fishery management agencies in
Submerged Aquatic Vegetation
(SAV) Protection and Restoration (For SAV, accelerate protection
and restoration)
In accordance with
Congressional appropriations language, the NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office began
large-scale SAV planting and research in 2003.
NOAA awarded grants totaling $550,000 in fiscal year (FY) 2003 and $800,000
in FY 2004 to establish pilot and large-scale planting and restoration
techniques for underwater seeds, shoots, and roots of grasses native to the
various salinity regimes of Chesapeake Bay and tidal tributaries in
NOAA-funded research
has identified techniques for large-scale seed harvest and successful storage,
with the goal that SAV seeds for some species can be handled much like standard
agricultural processes, with the difference that SAV seeds must be kept
moist. Broadcasting of seeds has
provided the best recent success for large-scale planting. Alternative planting techniques, such as
mechanized planting from boats, have been less successful. Small-scale commercial operations are testing
woven mats with SAV seeds in the weave.
SAV restoration is a key component of successful shoreline restoration,
providing a barrier to reduce wave action and trap sediment. SAV provide critical habitat for fish and
shellfish, particularly for blue crabs during mating and molting.
Education (Provide a meaningful Bay or stream experience for all students in the watershed, beginning with the class of 2005)
As the lead federal
agency for education in the Chesapeake Bay Program, NOAA coordinates the
activities of the Education Workgroup.
Much of the effort to meet the C2K commitment is supported through the
NOAA Bay Watershed Education and Training (B-WET) Program, established in
2002. The B-WET Program provides
hands-on watershed education to students and teachers to foster stewardship of
Using the environment to help advance student learning and problem-solving abilities has been shown to increase academic performance, enthusiasm for learning, and environmental stewardship. The main component of B-WET is a financial assistance program. The program provides competitive grants and technical support, facilitating meaningful watershed experiences for students and related professional development for teachers. Funding for the program grew from $1.2 million in 2002 to $2.5 million in 2004. In 2004, B-WET will reach an estimated 14,500 students and 3,300 teachers through 34 grants ranging from $10,000 to $200,000.
In addition to the programs of the NOAA Chesapeake Bay
Office, NOAA has several other investments in the
·
The
· NOAA’s Ocean Service, including the Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services, National Geodetic Survey, National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science, Coastal Services Center, Office of Coast Survey, Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management, and Office of Response and Restoration invested over $11.8 million in FY 2003 towards provided funding for research, restoration, environmental monitoring, nautical charting, and coastal management activities.
·
NOAA Research provides funding for air research,
habitat and fisheries interactions, and ballast water and invasive species
research, and supports the
· NOAA’s National Weather Service provides weather forecasts, flood watches/warnings, and low-flow predictions.
· NOAA Satellites provides satellite remote sensing services, including information on sea surface temperatures.
·
NOAA’s Ships and Aircraft provide support for
research, coastal mapping, and hydrographic surveys of
As illustrated by this investment portfolio, NOAA provides a
number of valuable products and services to address a broad range of Bay user
needs, ensuring safe navigation and marine commerce, restoring habitats,
improving the management of coastal resources, providing citizens with
forecasts of wind, weather, and water events, and protecting and restoring the
Bay’s fisheries. NOAA has also afforded
benefits to
Regarding the issue of modeling versus monitoring in reporting on progress in the Bay restoration, NOAA believes that both are important. Modeling provides a valuable tool for examining the potential impact of a given management scheme (forecasting) and looking back (or hindcasting) to understand what happened. Monitoring provides an ongoing means of assessing the net result of management actions, taking into account the natural variability in the environment, and providing real-world data for input back into modeling efforts.
The individual measurements from monitoring give us a snapshot of the environment experienced by the living resources, a “point in time” basis for evaluating water quality at a given location. When these snapshots are combined spatially and temporally, we are able to identify trends and interpret the data, drawing inferences between management actions and water quality results. However, there are many factors to be taken into account in our analyses of the observed data to explain such results, and models provide a means to quantify these factors and then hind- and forecast observed conditions.
Modeling in the Bay is also important because the response
to nutrient inputs observed in deep water (anoxia) is actually caused by
phytoplankton production taking place in the shallows, which is transported to
the deep water by various mechanisms.
Research is adding a lot to our understanding of and modeling of these mechanisms, so that we can better
interpret our observed data in terms of cause and effect and in terms of
progress. We depend on models to
translate current conditions and management actions into future
conditions. But models are only as good
as the information used to develop them – we are still short of understanding
many processes and are lacking data on many of the current inputs. Therefore, it is important that we rely on
both monitoring and modeling as we evaluate progress in the clean-up of
NOAA provides the EPA Chesapeake Bay Program Office with data used to run the Bay watershed (pollutant loading) model. Specifically, NOAA provides:
· Rainfall/precipitation data from NOAA’s National Weather Service
· Winds and other meteorological products (temperature, humidity, solar radiation, etc) from National Weather Service stations
· Remotely sensed chlorophyll information from NOAA Satellites (NESDIS)
· Living resource data (quantities and locations)
·
An air deposition model (developed by NOAA’s Air
Resources Laboratory at
Over the last decade, the NOAA Air Resources Laboratory has
led a multi-organizational effort to assess the role of atmospheric deposition
on the water quality of
NOAA
meteorology, rainfall, water level information, and living resources data
(quantities and locations) are used in the Chesapeake Bay hydrodynamic and
water quality model developed partly run by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
and also run by a scientist from the
The
NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office is funding the Chesapeake Research Consortium
(comprised of Bay academic institutions) to develop the next generation of a
“community model” for
As
I previously stated, the NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office is developing and testing a
food web model for the
Emerging NOAA Capabilities to Further
Support
In my
introductory remarks, I indicated I would conclude with some remarks on
emerging NOAA capabilities and programs that could further assist in restoring
The tools and capabilities provided by IOOS
will help us to address many needs, including the
ability to:
The
NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office began funding the deployment of remote sensing buoys
and fixed sensor packages in
A
second area of potential is improved application of NOAA’s Coastal Zone
Management Program and Estuarine Research Reserves System. In particular, these programs have developed
communication tools that provide local decision makers with a better
understanding of how their actions fit into the larger Bay watershed. An example is the
This
concludes my testimony, Mr. Chairman. I
will be happy to respond to any questions that you or members of the
Subcommittee may have.