Wetlands

NEW! NOAA/USFWS joint report on Coastal Wetland Trends 1998-2004

Our Mission Statement:

"To protect coastal wetlands and promote public understanding of their importance to coastal and marine living resources"

What Does NOAA Fisheries Service Do For Coastal Wetlands?

NMFS has several roles in protecting and restoring coastal wetlands. Our traditional role has been to provide technical advice to agencies and the public on proposed actions that could have a negative effect on living marine resources, including coastal wetlands. Based on our scientific and management expertise, NMFS often recommends ways to avoid, minimize, and mitigate the adverse effects of a project, such as moving a project away from a wetland, making it smaller, or compensating for the loss of a wetland by creating or restoring one nearby. Since many coastal wetlands have been identified as "Essential Fish Habitat", NMFS recommendations have taken on added importance.

NMFS is also involved in restoring coastal wetlands. When a coastal wetland is damaged by an oil spill or some other incident, NMFS participates in determining how the person or company responsible for the accident should repair the damage (DARP). NMFS also has a community-based restoration program that provides small grants of money to communities that want to restore a wetland or other aquatic habitat. Finally, since most of the coastal wetland loss in the country is occurring in Louisiana, NMFS participates actively in wetland protection and restoration under the Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection, and Restoration Act, which provides millions of dollars each year to protect and restore wetlands in coastal Louisiana. (LaCoast)
NMFS is also involved in research on the importance of wetlands to fish, the success of coastal wetland restoration efforts, the effects of development on coastal wetlands and their watersheds, trends in coastal wetland loss, and related topics. For more information on NMFS research, see the publications list of NMFS Science Centers.

Outreach is an important component of wetland conservation. Currently, the NMFS Habitat Protection Division has undertaken several efforts to increase public awareness regarding the importance of coastal wetlands, particularly to fish. National and regional outreach and technical wetland documents have and are being developed to address these goals. These documents address different aspects of the biology and ecology of wetlands, their importance and values, natural and anthropogenic impacts, consequences of wetland loss, habitat status, and ongoing efforts for their conservation. (wetlands publications).