Overview
The marine region off the coast of Washington, Oregon and California accounts for about 7% (778,628 km2) of the total area of the U.S. Economic Exclusive Zone and contains extensive deep-sea coral (DSC) communities. NOAA manages five National Marine Sanctuaries (NMS) on the West Coast: the Channel Islands (CINMS), Monterey Bay (MBNMS), Gulf of the Farallones (GFNMS), Cordell Bank CBNMS), and Olympic Coast (OCNMS). All contain deep-sea corals.
NOAA’s Coral Reef Conservation Program (CRCP, http://coralreef.noaa.gov/) is charged with coordinating the implementation of DSC research activities, which is primarily authorized by the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA) (U.S.C. 1801 et seq.). The MSA was reauthorized in 2006 and it included a new requirement to establish a “Deep-Sea Coral Research and Technology Program” (http://coralreef.noaa.gov/deepseacorals/#dscprogram) (DSCRTP; MSA Section 408) and authorized Fishery Management Plan discretionary provisions (Sec. 303(b)(2))(Annex 1). The CRCP also integrates a variety of other NOAA mandates for science and management action related to DSC including other provisions of the MSA and the National Marine Sanctuaries Act (http://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/missions/2010coral_west/). In Fiscal Year (FY) 2010, NOAA expanded DSC and sponge field research and mapping activities to include the U.S. West Coast. The new field activities are being led by a NOAA cross-line office team consisting of the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), Northwest Fisheries Science Center (NWFSC) and Southwest Fisheries Science Center (SWFSC); the National Ocean Service (NOS), Office of National Marine Sanctuaries (ONMS), OCNMS and CINMS; and the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR), Office of Ocean Exploration and Research (OER); and coordinated with multiple NOAA programs, academia, and nongovernmental organizations.
The goal for FY2010 is to survey DSC and sponge communities from Washington to southern California and includes five components: 1) OCNMS to address Essential Fish Habitat (EFH) information needs for a proposal to Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC) to expand the boundaries and increase protective measures for a EFH Conservation Area; 2) Grays Canyon, Washington sponge reefs to address EFH and provide additional information to the PFMC to implement protective measures; 3) CINMS to address EFH and characterize the distribution and abundance of DSC; 4) Southern California to address EFH and focus on the biology and ecology of the DSC; and, 5) Central California, GFNMS and CBNMS to conduct reconnaissance and characterization of suspected DSCs inside and outside of EFH areas. FY2010 efforts are intended to balance the DSC and sponge needs across topics and geography to ensure the activities adhere to PFMC, EFH, and ONMS needs.
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