Mapping the shallow-water coral ecosystems of the Freely Associated States: an implementation plan

This Freely Associated States Shallow-water Coral Ecosystem Mapping Implementation Plan (FAS MIP) presents a framework for the development of shallow-water (~0–40 m; 0–22 fm) benthic habitat and possibly bathymetric maps of critical areas of the Freely Associated States (FAS). The FAS is made up of three self-governing groups of islands and atolls—the Republic of Palau (Palau), the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), and the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI)—that are affiliated with the United States through Compacts of Free Association. This MIP was developed with extensive input from colleges, national and state regulatory and management agencies, federal agencies, non-governmental organizations, and individuals involved in or supporting the conservation and management of the FAS’s coral ecosystems. A list of organizations and individuals that provided input to the development of this MIP is provided in Appendix 1. This MIP has been developed to complement the Coral Reef Mapping Implementation Plan (2nd Draft) released in 1999 by the U.S. Coral Reef Task Force’s Mapping and Information Synthesis Working Group. That plan focused on mapping United States and FAS shallow-water (then defined as <30 m) coral reefs by 2009, based on available funding and geographic priorities, using primarily visual interpretation of aerial photography and satellite imagery. This MIP focuses on mapping the shallow-water (now defined as 0–40 m, rather than 0–30 m) coral ecosystems of the FAS using a suite of technologies and map development procedures. Both this FAS MIP and the 1999 Coral Reef Mapping Implementation Plan (2nd Draft) support to goals of the National Action Plan to Conserve Coral Reefs (U.S. Coral Reef Task Force, 2000). This FAS MIP presents a framework for mapping the coral ecosystems of the FAS and should be considered an evolving document. As priorities change, funding opportunities arise, new data are collected, and new technologies become available, the information presented herein will change.

Mapping southern Florida's shallow-water coral ecosystems: an implementation plan

The Southern Florida Shallow-water Coral Ecosystem Mapping Implementation Plan (MIP) discusses the need to produce shallow-water (~0-40 m; 0-22 fm) benthic habitat and bathymetric maps of critical areas in southern Florida and moderate-depth (~40-200 m; 22 -109 fm) bathymetric maps for all of Florida. The ~0-40 m depth regime generally represents where most hermatypic coral species are found and where most direct impacts from pollution and coastal development occur. The plan was developed with extensive input from over 90 representatives of state regulatory and management agencies, federal agencies, universities, and non-governmental organizations involved in the conservation and management of Florida’s coral ecosystems. Southern Florida’s coral ecosystems are extensive. They extend from the Dry Tortugas in the Florida Keys as far north as St Lucie Inlet on the Atlantic Ocean coast and Tarpon Springs on the Gulf of Mexico coast. Using 10 fm (18 m) depth curves on nautical charts as a guide, southern Florida has as much as 84 percent (30,801 sq km) of 36,812 sq km of potential shallow-water (<10 fm; <18 m) coral ecosystems the tropical and subtropical U.S. Moreover, southern Florida’s coral ecosystems contribute greatly to the regional economy. Coral ecosystem-related expenditures generated $4.4 billion in sales, income, and employment and created over 70,000 full-time and part-time jobs in the region during the recent 12-month periods when surveys were conducted.

Change in Pacific Northwest coastal ecosystems. Proceedings of the Pacific Northwest Coastal Ecosystems Regional Study Workshop, August 73-14, 1996, Troutdale, Oregon

Over the past one hundred and fifty years, the landscape and ecosystems of the Pacific Northwest coastal region, already subject to many variable natural forces, have been profoundly affected by human activities. In virtually every coastal watershed from the Strait of Juan de Fuca to Cape Mendocino, settlement, exploitation and development of resou?-ces have altered natural ecosystems. Vast, complex forests that once covered the region have been largely replaced by tree plantations or converted to non-forest conditions. Narrow coastal valleys, once filled with wetlands and braided streams that tempered storm runoff and provided salmon habitat, were drained, filled, or have otherwise been altered to create land for agriculture and other uses. Tideflats and saltmarshes in both large and small estuaries were filled for industrial, commercial, and other urban uses. Many estuaries, including that of the Columbia River, have been channeled, deepened, and jettied to provide for safe, reliable navigation. The prodigious rainfall in the region, once buffered by dense vegetation and complex river and stream habitat, now surges down sirfiplified stream channels laden with increased burdens of sediment and debris. Although these and many other changes have occurred incrementally over time and in widely separated areas, their sum can now be seen to have significantly affected the natural productivity of the region and, as a consequence, changed the economic structure of its human communities. This activity has taken place in a region already shaped by many interacting and dynamic natural forces. Large-scale ocean circulation patterns, which vary over long time periods, determine the strength and location of currents along the coast, and thus affect conditions in the nearshore ocean and estuaries throughout the region. Periodic seasonal differences in the weather and ocean act on shorter time scales; winters are typically wet with storms from the southwest while summers tend to be dry with winds from the northwest. Some phenomena are episodic, such as El Nifio events, which alter weather, marine habitats, and the distribution and survival of marine organisms. Other oceanic and atmospheric changes operate more slowly; over time scales of decades, centuries, and longer. Episodic geologic events also punctuate the region, such as volcanic eruptions that discharge widespread blankets of ash, frequent minor earthquakes, and major subduction zone earthquakes each 300 to 500 years that release accumulated tectonic strain, dropping stretches of ocean shoreline, inundating estuaries and coastal valleys, and triggering landslides that reshape stream profiles. While these many natural processes have altered, sometimes dramatically, the Pacific Northwest coastal region, these same processes have formed productive marine and coastal ecosystems, and many of the species in these systems have adapted to the variable environmental conditions of the region to ensure their long-term survival.