NOAA, BOEMRE and Fish and Wildlife Service Advance
Nation’s Largest Survey of Marine Protected Species
Study Covers U.S. East Coast Waters
WASHINGTON — The nation’s largest
survey of protected marine species is now underway for its second
year along the East Coast, officials from the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Department of the Interior’s
Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE)
and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) announced today.
Aboard the NOAA ships Henry B. Bigelow and Gordon Gunter,
researchers are documenting animals in deeper waters beyond the edge
of the continental shelf, with the Bigelow off the northeastern U.S.
and the Gunter off the southeastern U.S. During July and August,
NOAA aircraft will carry observers surveying for animals in the
shallower waters on the shelf all along the East Coast, and USFWS
aircraft will survey for seabirds during August from Maine to
Florida.
The expeditions are part of the
Atlantic Marine Assessment Program for Protected Species (AMAPPS), a
joint multi-year study involving NOAA’s Fisheries Service, BOEMRE
and USFWS. Under an interagency agreement, NOAA and BOEMRE will
assign scientists to this summer’s and future expeditions and BOEMRE
will provide $7.6 million for the study, which runs from 2010 until
2014.
Comprehensive surveys of this type are rare, partly because it is
difficult to collect the data. These surveys will allow scientists
not only to better estimate the abundance of marine mammals, sea
turtles, and sea birds in U.S. Atlantic waters, but also to
investigate how the animals’ distribution and abundance relate to
the physical and biological ecosystem.
The study will help NOAA’s Fisheries Service manage, conserve and
protect living marine resources within the United States Exclusive
Economic Zone, waters three to 200 miles offshore. The study also
will help inform BOEMRE’s decision-making process for future energy
development. Finally, this partnership will give USFWS much better
scientific information about seabird populations, so that the agency
can more clearly define the needs of these species and make better
management decisions
The project will also test new remote sensing technologies that
increasingly make it easier to gather data. Some of the technologies
include underwater recorders that capture sounds animals make,
pattern recognition software that helps scientists identify species
by their outer markings, tags attached to animals that transmit
information about their locations and ocean conditions when they
surface, and underwater robots outfitted with a variety of sensors.
Researchers will also develop models and other tools to translate
the survey data into estimates linked to time, space and habitat.
Models using acoustics data are already in development, with first
results expected in 2012. These tools will help to decide how best
to use and protect the ocean. Eventually, the data will be
incorporated into a comprehensive geospatial database and made
available online to both public users and government agencies. For
example, the U.S. Navy will be able to use these new data in support
of its marine stewardship goals on its at-sea test and training
ranges.
In addition to the surveys currently
underway, AMAPPS research in 2011 has included harbor seal tagging
this spring in Massachusetts and Maine, followed by an aerial seal
survey along the New England coast during peak pupping season in
late May and June. In addition, a loggerhead turtle-tagging and
biological sampling cruise was just completed ahead of schedule this
month aboard two New Jersey commercial scallop vessels. Researchers
put satellite tags on 25 juvenile loggerhead turtles, adding to the
44 tagged last year by scientists from both NOAA’s Northeast and
Southeast Fisheries Science Centers.
A report on the 2010 work was
recently published by the NEFSC and can be found at:
http://www.nefsc.noaa.gov/psb/AMAPPS/docs/Final_2010AnnualReportAMAPPS_19Apr2011.pdf.
NOAA and the USFWS implement the
Endangered Species Act, the Marine Mammal Protection Act, and the
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA); USFWS also implements the
Migratory Bird Treaty Act. The two agencies have collaborated to
survey protected marine species in the Atlantic since 1979. NOAA’s
Fisheries Service also supports many state government agencies as
well as private non-profit and academic research programs and
projects to better understand marine species. BOEMRE’s Environmental
Studies Program conducts and sponsors scientific research to inform
decision-making regarding ocean energy and marine minerals
management, as authorized by the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act,
as amended, the Energy Policy Act of 2005, and NEPA.
Related Links:
NEFSC’s Protected Species Branch:
http://www.nefsc.noaa.gov/psb/
BOEMRE Environmental Studies Program:
http://www.boemre.gov/eppd/sciences/esp/index.htm.
Contact: BOEMRE
Public Affairs