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NOAA Coral Reef Activities

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• Proceedings of the International Cyanide Detection Testing Workshop
  


• Demographic Baseline Report of U.S. Territories and Counties Adjacent to Coral Reef Habitats
  


• 2008 Deep Coral Report to Congress
  


• Status of Caribbean Coral Reefs after Bleaching and Hurricanes in 2005
  


• Coral Histopathology II Report
  


• The State of Deep Coral Ecosystems
  


• Coral Reef Ecosystem Research Plan
  


• A Reef Manager's Guide To Coral Bleaching
  


• Coral Reef Action Strategy (2002)
  


• Report to Congress (2005)
  
  
• Report to Congress (2008)
  
  

NOAA's Efforts to Reduce Impacts of Coastal Uses on Coral Reef Ecosystems

Activities in coastal areas, such as recreational boating, coastal development, beach re-nourishment, and laying new pipelines or cables, can have negative impacts on nearby coral reef ecosystems. For example, vessel groundings can cause injury to coral reef ecosystems by destroying habitat, releasing pollutants, and entrapping wildlife.  The National Action Strategy (NAS) calls for initiation of actions to reduce the adverse impacts from vessel groundings, coastal development and other coastal uses.  NOAA supports activities that enable States and Territories to respond to and reduce habitat destruction. 

At times, active restoration is needed to help prevent further degradation or enhance the natural restoration process in injured or damaged coral reef habitats.  The NAS calls for increased capability of managers to effectively and efficiently restore injured or degraded coral reefs where appropriate.  NOAA both conducts and supports activities that assess and restore damaged coral reef areas. 

The NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program supports a number of activities to reduce the impact of coastal uses on coral reef ecosystems.  These activities include efforts to reduce recreational overuse of coral reefs, as well as efforts to reduce the impacts of coastal development and maritime activities.  NOAA has supported efforts to restore damaged coral reef and seagrass areas and conducted research to determine which restoration techniques are the most effective.

Categories of Activities:
General Coastal Uses (Address Multiple Impacts)
Restore Injured Habitats
Reduce Impacts of Recreational Overuse
Reduce Impacts of Coastal Development

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