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Title and Description:
Condition Report for Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary
The National Marine Sanctuary Program (NMSP) is developing reports on the status and trends of natural and archaeological resources within the marine sanctuaries as part of its System-Wide Monitoring (SWiM) Program. The initial sanctuary condition reports provide a summary of marine sanctuary resources, pressures (e.g. human impacts), the current state of the sanctuary, and responses to the pressures that threaten the integrity of the marine environment. The primary purpose of the documents is to report in a standardized way across all marine sanctuaries on the status and trends of water quality, habitat, living resources and maritime archaeological resources and the human activities that affect them. Resource status is rated on a scale from good to poor, and the timelines used for comparison vary from topic to topic. Trends in the status of resources are also reported, and are generally based on observed changes in status over the past five years, unless otherwise specified. Evaluations of status and trends were made by sanctuary staff, based on interpretation of quantitative and, when necessary, non-quantitative assessments and observations of scientists, managers and users. Therefore, ratings reflect the collective level of concern among participants based on their knowledge and perceptions of local problems. Reports summarizing resource status and trends will be prepared for each marine sanctuary once every five years. This information is intended to help set the stage for management plan reviews.

ID:  91 Info. Type:  ISI
Estimated Dissemination Date:  3/31/08  Actual: 8/20/2008
Contact Person:  Elizabeth Davenport NOAA Locator

Date First Posted in Peer Review Agenda:  12/16/2007

Estimated Peer Review Start Date: 11/15/2007
Review type:  individual letters
Expected number of peer reviewers: 4-10
Peer reviewers will be selected by:  the agency

Will the public, including scientific or professional societies, be asked to nominate potential peer reviewers?  no

Will there be opportunities for the public to comment on the work product to be peer reviewed?  no

How?  NA

When?  NA

Will the agency provide significant and relevant public comments to the peer reviewers before they conduct their review?  no

Primary disciplines or expertise needed in the review:  Specialists in four areas - Living resources (specifically temperate reef assemblages), benthic habitats (with focus on hard bottom habitats), water quality, and archaeological resources

Comments on Peer Review:
Charge statement to the peer reviewers: ID91Charge_statement.doc
Peer review report: http://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/science/condition/pdfs/grnms_review.pdf
Final Condition Report (work product): http://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/science/condition/grnms/welcome.html