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The State of Coral Reef Ecosystems of the Republic of the Marshall Islands
Report

The State of Coral Reef Ecosystems of the Republic of the Marshall Islands

M Berger, D Jacobson, S Pinca, Z T Richards, D Hess, F Harriss, C Page, Eric L Peterson and N Baker
The State of Coral Reef Ecosystems of the United States and Pacific Freely Associated States: 2008. NOAA Technical Memorandum NOS NCCOS 73, pp.387 pages-417
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
2008
url
https://coastalscience.noaa.gov/data_reports/the-state-of-coral-reef-ecosystems-of-the-united-states-and-pacific-freely-associated-states-2008/View
Published Version Open

Abstract

coral reefs ecosystem
The 569-page report was structured to provide information according to the primary threats, topics, and goals outlined in the National Coral Reef Action Strategy (NCRAS, 2002) and other guidance documents developed by NOAA's Coral Reef Conservation Program, the U.S. Coral Reef Task Force (USCRTF) and its member organizations. Following the Executive Summary, which distills general conclusions from the entire document, an introductory chapter provides information on national- and regional-level efforts to conserve coral reef ecosystems in the U.S. and FAS that fall outside the scope of any one jurisdiction. In the subsequent 15 chapters, local writing teams characterize the current understanding of the condition of the coral reef ecosystems in their respective jurisdictions. Writing teams were asked to: 1) introduce the types and geographical distribution of reefs within the jurisdiction; 2) discuss how each of the 13 key threats has manifested in the location; 3) describe existing monitoring programs; 4) present methods, results, and discussion for each monitoring data set, organized around the three primary themes of water quality, benthic habitats, and associated biological communities; 5) introduce the conservation and management actions currently being undertaken to respond to issues of concern; and 6) provide an overall summary of the status of each jurisdiction's coral reef ecosystems and priority recommendations for future research and management alternatives. Finally, the National Summary chapter synthesizes the results of a multiple-choice questionnaire completed by report coordinators and/or writing team members to evaluate the present condition of key resources and threats, short- and long-term trends in reef condition, and the present ability of jurisdictions to monitor resources and threats. The results of the National Summary chapter corroborate the results of the jurisdiction chapters and indicate locations and topic areas for which additional support is needed. This report represents an evolving effort to determine the condition of coral reef ecosystems at both local and national scales and serves as a vehicle for the dissemination of information about data collection activities in the U.S. and FAS. Data collection and integrated reporting of information are crucial to management efforts that strive to protect and conserve coral reefs, their associated habitats, and the organisms that depend on them. It is hoped that, through this report series, gaps in the current state of knowledge about U.S. coral reef ecosystems will be identified and filled, and that the availability of up-to-date, accurate, comprehensive scientific information will enable managers to slow or halt the general decline in coral reef ecosystem health that has become evident in the last several decades.

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