OIA’s Coral Reef Initiative

Coral Reef, Ailuk Atoll, Marshall Islands.

Introduction and Role of the Office of Insular Affairs: Coral Reef Initiative and Cooperation with other Agencies

The Office of Insular Affairs (OIA) carries out the Secretary of the Interior’s responsibilities for the insular areas. OIA’s major charge is to coordinate Federal policy and to provide technical and financial assistance to the territories of the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI). The office also provides technical and financial assistance to the freely associated states (FAS) of the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the Republic of Palau. The financial assistance OIA provides is to improve government operations and infrastructure, recognizing that local tax revenues and other Federal programs are insufficient to meet the unique political, social and economic needs of the islands. Much of this assistance is in the form of mandatory funding and is the product of negotiated long-term agreements.

Excluding Puerto Rico, the U.S. territories and FAS total fewer than 2,000 square miles in aggregate, but are distributed over more than 3,000,000 square miles of ocean - an area equivalent to the conterminous U.S. Thus, the insular areas represent a significant portion of waters under U.S. jurisdiction. They also are home to some of the most extensive and biologically diverse coral reef ecosystems in the world. Islanders have harvested these resources for a wide range of utilitarian, symbolic and ornamental functions since prehistoric times. The sea was an important food source in the Caribbean and supplied an estimated 90% of the animal protein consumed by Pacific Islanders, effectively serving as the social security reserve and unemployment insurance of many island people. Coral reefs also protect these island communities from coastal erosion and storm damage, provide habitat to numerous species, and support important tourism and recreational industries. Rapidly growing populations, poor land-use practices, and over-exploitation of near shore resources have severely degraded many of these ecosystems.

OIA’s program is a key element of a coordinated U.S. effort to reverse the decline of coral reefs. The initiative is overseen by the United States Coral Reef Task Force (CRTF; www.coralreef.gov), established in 1998 by Presidential Executive Order #13089 and co-chaired by the Departments of the Interior and Commerce. CRTF members include the heads of twelve Federal agencies, and the governors of Florida, Hawaii and the five U.S. territories. The presidents of the three freely associated states serve as non-voting members.

Through its Coral Reef Initiative, OIA is playing a critical role in the national effort to conserve coral reefs by working with the U.S.-affiliated insular areas to enhance the management and protection of their coral reef resources.

Authorities and mandates

Under 48 U.S.C. 1469(d), the Secretary of the Interior is authorized to provide technical assistance in the form of “research, planning assistance, studies, and demonstration projects” through reimbursements to other agencies, grants to the insular governments, or employment of private individuals, partnerships or corporations.

The Office of Insular Affairs’ Coral Reef Initiative carries out this role on behalf of the Secretary with respect to the U.S. Territories and Freely Associated States.

Programs & Projects

The Micronesia Challenge in the Northern Pacific: In 2006, the Presidents of Palau, the Federated States of Micronesia, and the Marshall Islands, and the Governors of Guam and the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands, committed to protect at least 30 percent of near-shore marine resources and 20 percent of terrestrial resources across Micronesia by 2020.

Covering 6.7 million square kilometers of ocean, the Micronesia Challenge (Challenge) represents more than 20% of the Pacific Island region – and 5% of the largest ocean in the world. The Challenge will help protect at least 66 known threatened species, 10% of the global total reef area and 462 coral species – that is 58% of all known corals.

OIA supports the Challenge through funding that supports local resource planning projects and participation on advisory and planning committees that assist the jurisdictions in meeting the objectives of the Challenge.

The Micronesia Challenge has gained international recognition and is being copied in other regions, including the recently proposed “Caribbean Challenge”.

Salt River Bay Marine Research and Education Center, St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands: A partnership among the National Park Service (NPS), OIA and a consortium of universities (Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey; the University of North Carolina, Wilmington; the University of the Virgin Islands and the University of South Carolina) known as the Joint Institute for Caribbean Marine Studies (JICMS) is working to build a major marine research and education center (MREC) at the Salt River Bay National Historical Park and Ecological Preserve, St. Croix.

The Salt River Bay MREC will support research and education programs that will address the rapidly declining health of coral reef ecosystems throughout the Caribbean and other tropical regions of the world. The MREC will also support science-based management for two new marine parks in St. Croix and throughout the region, provide student education and promote public awareness of the economic and cultural heritage of the tropical oceans.

The MREC will restore the region’s marine research capacity which was lost when two former world-class facilities in St. Croix - Farleigh Dickinson University’s West Indies Laboratory and the National Undersea Research Center of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) - were destroyed by Hurricane Hugo in 1989. The MREC’s research programs will draw upon and extend the databases of those laboratories as well as provide research to guide management of two new parks in Saint Croix, the East End Marine Park, the USVI’s first territorial park, and the expansion of Buck Island National Park.

OIA has contributed $670,000 for the planning and design of the facility. With the feasibility study and environmental assessment completed, the stage is set to begin the design phase. The proposal is the build the MREC not only as a center of excellence for marine research and education, but also as a “green demonstration project” for the NPS and the insular areas. It would be among the first marine research centers and NPS facilities to be designed to use renewable energy such as wind and solar power and to minimize impacts to surrounding sensitive habitats such as the watersheds and adjacent marine areas. The MREC will be not only a center of excellence for marine research and education but also as a model for USVI and NPS for future development.

Task Force Member Capacity Building: Since 1994, OIA has worked closely with island governments to identify local and regional priorities for protection and sustainable use of their marine resources, and especially their coral reefs. The priorities have been summarized in the U.S. All Islands Coral Reef Initiative Strategy (Strategy;1999), Local Action Strategies (LAS) developed by each jurisdiction and annual requests for financial assistance. The Strategy was a cornerstone of the National Action Plan to Conserve Coral Reefs, adopted by the U.S. Coral Reef Task Force in March 2000 while the LAS have laid out specific areas of need for individual jurisdictions. Both the Strategy and the LAS have identified a broad scope of action from education and outreach to establishment of marine protected areas and increased local enforcement. OIA has used these efforts to focus its technical and financial assistance to the insular areas.

Natural Resource Assessment Surveys, Marshall Islands:

An NRAS team collecting data near Namu Atoll in the Marshall Islands.

Natural Resource Assessment Survey (NRAS) teams are composed of marine scientists and conservationists from the insular areas and from abroad, along with scientists from National organizations like the Fish and Wildlife Service and the NOAA, all of whom are volunteers. One of the NRAS teams’ responsibilities is to train local counterparts to continue their observations when they are finished. The NRAS are conducted in the Marshall Islands to assess marine biodiversity, identify threats, and provide recommendations for marine resource management plans.

Funding Opportunities Related to Coral Reefs

OIA provides technical assistance and training primarily to the territorial governments although grants to other individuals or institutions may be made with the support of the Chief Executive of the affected insular area. A detailed handbook on OIA’s grant programs is available at: http://www.doi.gov/oia/budget/budhist/Complete_Manual_2.doc

Coral Reef Initiative Funding

Since 2000, OIA’s Coral Reef Initiative has awarded $500,000 annually in direct grants to the insular areas for coral reef conservation and management projects. In 2008, OIA received an increase of $479,000 for its coral reef initiative to support the Micronesia Challenge and the partnership to build a new marine research and education center at Salt River Bay National Historical Park and Ecological preserve in St. Croix, USVI. In addition, funds from other programs within OIA support projects that improve the health of coral reefs such as expanding or constructing new wastewater treatment facilities or reducing run-off, both of which increase water quality over the adjacent reefs.

Local Action Strategies

In partnership with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), OIA provides technical assistance and direct grants to the U.S. insular areas in support of their efforts to conserve coral reef ecosystems.These areas include the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), American Samoa, and the freely associated states of Palau, the Marshall Islands and the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM). Grants support a broad range of projects designed to fill gaps in management capacity and to develop a comprehensive marine resource management program within each of the areas. Local Action Strategies, developed by each of the U.S. territories, form the basis for a significant portion of the insular area annual grant awards.

Other grants that may apply to coral reef conservation and management projects include:

Capital Improvement Program (CIP) Grants:

• $27.7 million appropriated in FY06
• territories request CIP funds through the annual grants process; funds may be used, as in the U.S. Virgin Islands in FY05, for wastewater treatment
• a unique feature of CIP funds is that they may be used to meet the local matching requirement for capital improvement grants of other Federal agencies, subject to OIA’s approval

General Technical Assistance:

• $11.7 million appropriated in FY05
• grants are for short-term, non-capital projects and may be submitted for consideration at any time during the fiscal year

Maintenance Assistance:

• $2.3 million in FY06
• focuses on improving maintenance through training, education and technical advice

Water and Wastewater Projects:

• new in FY06; $1 million requested in the President’s Budget

Fellowships Offered

Governor Tauese P.F. Sunia Memorial Coral Reef Conservation Summer Scholarships:

Since 2004, the Department of Interior's Office of Insular Affairs, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and NOAA have hosted Sunia Scholars from the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and American Samoa. This scholarship provides students a unique opportunity to gain valuable, professionally formative experience in coral reef conservation policy and management while also contributing to the overall efforts of the hosting agency and the U.S. Coral Reef Task Force. For additional information, contact coralreefweb@noaa.gov

Micronesia Challenge Conservation Champions:

Ailuk Atoll, Marshall Islands Damselfish swimming in a reef.

The Micronesia Challenge is seeking conservation "champions" to design and carry out outreach and educational programs. Each "champion" will receive $5,000 in stipends, a laptop, and funded travel for workshops and training. Applicants must be citizens or permanent residents of Micronesia and either currently enrolled in a college or university or a recent college graduate. For more information, contact Willy Kostka, director of the Micronesia Conservation Trust at mctdirector@mail.fm.

Funding for All Islands Committee

Since 2002, OIA and NOAA have funded the Secretariat of the U.S. All Islands Coral Reef Initiative Committee. The Secretariat provides policy support and coordination for the Committee's participation in the U.S. Coral Reef Task Force and helps the jurisdictions coordinate coral reef conservation initiatives with Federal agencies and non-governmental organizations.

Coral Reefs Publications and Documents

2008 State of the Coral Reefs Report

Protecting the Nation’s Coral Reefs (1998, 1999, 2002, 2003 2004)

Namu Marine Resource Assessment (Marshall Islands; 2004)

Ailuk Marine Resource Assessment (Marshall Islands, 2006)

Ailinginae World Heritage Site (2003)

Click here for more Coral Reef Photos

DOI jurisdictions with coral reefs; total area with coral reefs and other submerged lands are about 3,630,500 acres.