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The conference will focus on applying fisheries and marine science to solve problems by bringing multiple users of ocean resources together to make informed and coordinated decisions for sustainable use of these resources. Addressing the issues of connectivity, fisheries management, conservation, and related issues at GCFI will aid in addressing critical marine resource issues within the Wider Caribbean Region.
The theme of the Conference is "Tourism in the Caribbean: challenges for the management of fisheries and coral reef ecosystems of the region". While tourism provides considerable economic benefits for many countries, regions and communities, its rapid expansion can also be responsible for adverse environmental, as well as socio-cultural, impact. Two areas of environmental impact of tourism are: pressure on natural resources and damage to ecosystems. Furthermore, it is now widely recognized not only that uncontrolled tourism expansion is likely to lead to environmental degradation, but also that environmental degradation, in turn, poses a serious threat to tourism activities.
For more information, visit the GCFI 2018 Conference webpage.
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Feature Stories
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Connecting Caribbean Marine Protected Areas
Last summer's NOAA in The Caribbean newsletter described plans to update the Caribbean marine protected area (MPA) management capacity assessment, the results of which can now be found
online in Esri Story Maps. The findings guide comprehensive long-term capacity building through a partnership between NOAA's Coral Reef Conservation Program and the Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute (GCFI) in support of a network of 30 Caribbean MPAs. The capacity results also provide ready guidance for other potential partners on the priority management needs of the participating MPAs.
The NOAA-GCFI partnership and network of Caribbean MPAs has been named "MPAConnect - a network for learning among Caribbean marine resource managers". The MPAConnect approach to capacity building and the topline findings from the capacity assessment are summarized in a
short video.
During the first half of 2018, MPAConnect conducted a number of activities to address the highest priority needs of participating MPA managers. These activities included the following:
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| MPA enforcement partners and regional colleagues in The Bahamas (photo: Emma Doyle). |
MPAConnect brought specialist financing expertise to assist the Toledo Institute for Development and Environment (TIDE) Belize and Roatan Marine Park as they worked on MPA budgeting, financial scenario analysis, and implementation planning for enhanced financing. Co-funding from the Coral Reef Alliance (CORAL) enabled Turtle Harbour-Rock Harbour Special Marine Protection Zone in Útila to develop business models for new financing mechanisms.
MPAConnect has excellent mentors within its peer network; expert enforcement staff from Belize Audubon Society and the Belize Fisheries Department served as mentors for colleagues in The Bahamas. They shared lessons learned from MPA and fisheries enforcement experiences and helped their colleagues at The Bahamas National Trust and national law enforcement agencies to address future planning for their own MPA enforcement program.
Co-funding from the Organization of American States' Reef Fix Project enabled MPAs in two countries to take follow-up action arising from the regional peer-to-peer workshop on bio-physical monitoring. In Saint Lucia, MPA managers from Saint Lucia National Trust worked with partner agencies and community groups to review aspects of fisheries policy in light of new MPA bio-physical monitoring findings. In Belize, Reef Fix and MPAConnect assisted Belize Audubon Society to incorporate bio-physical monitoring results into new science-based MPA outreach and communications materials.
Story contributed by Emma Doyle, Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute
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Coastal barriers at risk:
Puerto Rico Sea Grant research
highlights ocean acidification hotspots
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Researchers label water samples in the field (photo credit: Melissa Oyola).
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Our studies help us identify the geographic distrib
ution of surface carbonate chemistry, which is important in the identification of ocean acidification hotspots for vulnerable organisms."
- Melissa Melendez Oyola, Ph.D. student, University of New Hampshire
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| Deploying scientific instrumentation (photo credit: Melissa Oyola). |
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Beneath the waves just outside the serene fishing village of La Parguera, Puerto Rico, danger is lurking. The village's natural protectors against incoming waves, coral reefs, are facing an invisible threat: ocean acidification. With funding from
Puerto Rico Sea Grant
in
2017, researchers from University of Puerto Rico, University of New Hampshire and the Caribbean Regional Association for Coastal Ocean Observing are working together to develop the first biogeochemical and physical assessment for the La Parguera barrier system. The results are enabling detection of hotspots of coastal ocean acidification in coral reef ecosystems and highlighting areas that may be vulnerable to dissolution.
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Measuring water chemistry parameters (photo credit: Marc Emond). |
Story originally appeared as a Sea Grant Postcard from the Field. Contributed by Kelly Samek, National Sea Grant Office (NSGO).
For more information, please contact
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The new storm chasers?
Unmanned ocean gliders go deep to help improve hurricane forecasts.
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NOAA will soon launch a fleet of 15 unmanned gliders in the Caribbean Sea and tropical Atlantic Ocean this hurricane season to collect important oceanic data that could prove useful to forecasters.
"If you want to improve prediction of how hurricanes gain strength or weaken as they travel over the ocean, it's critical to take the ocean's temperature and measure how salty it is," said Gustavo Goni, an oceanographer at NOAA's Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory who is helping lead the glider research. "Not just at the surface, which we measure with satellites, but down into deeper layers of ocean waters." (
See this video of a typical research glider being used in the Caribbean.)
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Ubaldo Lopez of the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez prepares to launch NOAA ocean gliders in the summer of 2017 off Puerto Rico.
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NOAA, the U.S.
Integrated Ocean Observing System and university partners will begin deploying the torpedo-shaped, remotely-operated, battery-powered gliders from vessels off Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands in mid-July. Ten of the gliders will come from the
U.S. Navy, and the others from NOAA.
The gliders will collect the ocean data as they dive down from the surface to a half mile of depth and then regularly resurface several times a day, even during hurricane conditions, to transmit information by satellite to the Global Telecommunications Center used by NOAA's National Weather Service.
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| NOAA's Grant Rawson (left) and Luis O. Pomales Velázquez of University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez ready to deploy the glider. |
NOAA would like to acknowledge the following partners in the operations off Puerto Rico and US Virgin Islands: NOAA's Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Lab (AOML), the Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies (CIMAS) and University of Miami, The Caribbean Regional Association for Coastal Ocean Observing (CARICOOS), University of Puerto Rico Mayaguez, Ocean and Coastal Observing - Virgin Islands, Inc. (OCOVI), University of USVI, NOAA's Integrated Ocean Observing Program (IOOS), and Rutgers University.
Story contributed by NOAA Research.
For more information, please contact Monica Allen, NOAA Communications, at
[email protected]
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2nd Steering Committee Meeting of the CLME+ Project
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The Second Steering Committee Meeting of the UN Development Programme/Global Environment Facility (GEF) project "Catalysing Implementation of the Strategic Action Programme for the Sustainable Management of Shared Living Marine Resources in the Caribbean and North Brazil Shelf Large Marine Ecosystems" (CLME+) was convened from June 18-20, 2018, in Panama City, Panama. The CLME+ is a complex project that assists participating countries from the two large marine ecosystems (LMEs) in improving the management of their shared living marine resources through an Ecosystem-Based Management approach. Over 20 countries within the region have endorsed the project. The Steering Committee provides strategic policy and management direction for the project, assesses progress with its implementation, provides guidance to the project coordinating unit and partners, and reviews and approves the Project Work Plan and Budget. The purpose of this meeting was to, among other matters, review the project's mid-term evaluation and adopt measures and decisions that would support the continued success of the project's implementation and activities.
Story contributed by Erica Nuñez, NOAA Office of International Affairs.
For more information, please contact [email protected].
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NOAA Support to FEMA Recovery Efforts in Puerto Rico
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In February, NOAA received an unprecedented mission assignment from FEMA for coral reef assessment and emergency triage of coral reefs. It was unprecedented as this is the first time NOAA has received direct funding from FEMA for natural resources recovery support. What began as a single mission assignment ballooned into: direct support to the FEMA Joint Field Office/Joint Recovery Office; leading the Coastal Working Group for FEMA under their Natural and Cultural Resources Recovery Support Function; co-leading a Water Quality subgroup with EPA; coordinating with USDA on a Sedimentation/Erosion subgroup; engaging with the water systems infrastructure team; and mission assignments to assess
corals, seagrass, wetlands, and water quality. This has been a tremendous learning experience! We've broadened our networks and collaboration, gained insights into the FEMA recovery process, and taken lessons in flexibility. It has also been an incredible cross-NOAA effort, bringing together staff NOS, NMFS, NCCOS, and NESDIS.
In May, the working groups submitted "Courses of Action" to FEMA and the Puerto Rican Government, which are recommended actions for long-term recovery based on the assessment results. It is hoped that these recommendations will be adopted into Puerto Rico's recovery plan, which will be submitted to Congress in August for approval and funding. Some of the recommended courses of action include:
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Perform large scale coral restoration at five sites in Puerto Rico: Aguadila, Arecibo, San Juan, Fajardo/NE Reserves, and Culebra;
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Restore five wetlands sites: Isabela, Punta Tuna, Cucharillas, Piñones, and Punta Santiago;
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Establish a long-term seagrass monitoring and restoration program;
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Fund research on techniques to control the invasive seagrass,
Halophila stipulacea;
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Update marine benthic habitat maps and conduct field assessments to ground-truth;
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Update stormwater standards and building codes; and
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Improve water quality by repairing stormwater systems, installing green infrastructure, protecting water sources, and implementing sediment control plans.
The Coral Reef Assessment report can be found
here.
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| Sea Ventures, Force Blue, PR DNER and NOAA coral triage team at work in Puerto Rico. Divers are holding buckets of cement to reattach corals that were damaged and knocked loose during Hurricanes Irma and Maria. (Photo credit: John Slayer). |
We thank the NOAA Mission Assignment team (Jen Moore, Tom Moore, Sean Griffin, Michael Nemeth, and DNER's Nilda Jimenez) for their support in this process, as well as Antares Ramos (NOS/NOAA), Keenan Adams (DOI), Ernesto Diaz (PR-DNER), who promoted FEMA conducting a damage assessment and rapid restoration on coral reefs
for the first time. Also, thank you to Russell Jackson (NOS/NOAA) for his on-the ground support on FEMA recovery efforts of coastal resources, community organizations and volunteers who took to the water to provide the initial observations that gave rise to this study and work together
daily to protect our coral reefs.
Story contributed by Katherine Sheppard and collaborators in the Office for Coastal Management, National Ocean Service, NOAA.
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Building Skills For Future Flood Hazard Preparedness In Puerto Rico
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| Coastal Inundation Mapping training participants enhanced their mapping skills for recovery and planning in Puerto Rico. (Photo credit: Efra Figueroa, Puerto Rico Sea Grant) |
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hile continuing to recover from the devastation caused by Hurricane Maria, coastal managers in Puerto Rico realized the need to consider flooding in the recovery and planning processes. The territory had a collection of recent recovery data, but were in need of technical assistance to develop maps.
To he
lp build skills needed for the recovery and planning process, staff members from NOAA's Office for Coastal Management held two Coastal Inundation Mapping sessions. Participants learned how to use elevation and tidal data to visualize storm surge, high tide flooding, sea level rise, and tsunami scenarios. The training included representatives from FEMA, the University of Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico's Department of Natural and Environmental Resources, Puerto Rico Sea Grant, and local municipalities.
The skills learned in the course will enable participants to consider these various flood scenarios in their recovery process. In addition, participants will be more prepared for current and future flood impacts in Puerto Rico.
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Informing Future Flood Hazard Planning In Puerto Rico
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After Hurricane Maria devastated most of Puerto Rico-with powerful storm surge and roaring flash floods-the territory recognized the need to adopt new advisory base flood elevation requirements to better plan and prepare for future coastal hazards. The Coastal Flood Exposure Mapper is a useful tool to identify areas of potential flood exposure, but staff members from NOAA's Office for Coastal Management quickly realized the need for high-resolution flood maps for Puerto Rico. These maps would allow planners to zoom in to finer scales and would be compatible with the territory's new advisory base flood elevation maps developed by FEMA.
Before providing on-the-ground support to the territory's recovery planning effort, staff members from NOAA's Office for Coastal Management updated the Coastal Flood Exposure Mapper's functionality to allow visualization of flood hazards at a higher resolution for Puerto Rico. Following arrival in Puerto Rico, staff members provided training to planners within the Planning and Capacity Building Recovery Support Function, a group tasked with engaging with local communities during the development of the territory's overall recovery plan.
Puerto Rico's Planning and Capacity Building Recovery Support Function used the Coastal Flood Exposure Mapper to inform the recovery plan, which is a requirement of Congress identified by the hurricane supplemental funding. Implementation of the recommendations within the plan will be used for more efficient, longer-term resilience planning at the municipal level.
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| Modifications to allow access to higher resolution flood data for Puerto Rico were incorporated into the Coastal Flood Exposure Mapper to enable more efficient planning. |
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Announcements
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EPA Updates Coral Reef Site
The EPA has updated their Coral Reef site, including providing Spanish versions of each page.
EPA has also released the Guidelines for Measuring Changes in Seawater pH and Associated Carbonate Chemistry in Coastal Environments of the Eastern United States that can be found
here.
Story contributed by the Coastal States Organization Newsletter.
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Public Comment Period: Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for the Coral Reef Conservation Program
Deadline: August 15, 2018
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Office for Coastal Management announces its intention to prepare a programmatic environmental impact statement (PEIS) in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) for its Coral Reef Conservation Program (CRCP), which is managed out of NOAA's National Ocean Service in Silver Spring, MD, and implemented in coastal areas and marine waters of Florida, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Gulf of Mexico, Hawaii, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa, the U.S. Pacific Remote Island Area, and targeted international regions including the wider Caribbean, the Coral Triangle, the South Pacific, and Micronesia. Publication of this document begins the official scopin
g period that will help identify issues and alternatives to be considered in the PEIS.
The Notice of Intent for CRCP's preparation of a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement was published in the Federal Register on July 11, 2018. The comment period ends on August 15, 2018.
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University Student Ocean Ambassador Program
SEVENSEAS Media is now recruiting graduate and undergraduate students to become Ocean Ambassadors at their college or university.
Students chosen to be ocean ambassadors will be volunteers. There will be one ambassador (or team of ambassadors) per university. Each month, ambassadors will be responsible for hosting an ocean-themed event on campus, such as a documentary screening or a sustainable seafood potluck. The goal of these events is to spread the word about ocean conservation and sustainable tourism around college campuses. Additionally, ambassadors should plan to discuss the content of SEVENSEAS Media with their peers each month. This can be in tandem with the monthly events or could be a separate engagement.
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Funding Opportunities
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National Coastal Resilience Fund 2018 Request for Proposals
Deadline: August 7, 2018
On June 29, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced a request for proposals under the 2018 National Coastal Resilience Fund. This new grant program will fund projects that restore and strengthen natural systems so they can protect coastal communities from storms and flooding impacts. These restoration efforts also enhance important fish and wildlife habitats.
If you have any questions about Caribbean territories please contact Michelle Pico at
[email protected]
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Request for Qualifications: Technical support for three dimensional mapping of dissolved hydrocarbons and oil droplets using a remote environmental monitoring unit autonomous underwater vehicle.
Deadline: August 10, 2018
The University of New Hampshire (UNH) Coastal Response Research Center (CRRC) is soliciting proposals for Technical Support for Three Dimensional (3D) Mapping of Dissolved Hydrocarbons and Oil Droplets Using a Remote Environmental Monitoring UnitS (REMUS) Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) as identified in the Project Scope of Work herein. Any Proposer wishing to submit a proposal must comply with the requirements contained in this Request for Qualifications (RFQ). Any interpretations, corrections or changes to this RFQ will be made as addenda. Addenda will be posted and available on the CRRC website.
The purpose of this project is to provide technically sound, science-based support to the CRRC as part of its Five-Year Grant from NOAA's Office of Response and Restoration (ORR). Specifically, the project supports an agreement that NOAA ORR and the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) have to support emergency response and Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) and develop standard approaches for future response and assessments.
Please visit this page for the full announcement.
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EPA Source Reduction Assistance (SRA) Grant Program
Deadline: August 23, 2018
EPA is announcing a grant competition to fund two-year Source Reduction Assistance (SRA) agreements that support source reduction approaches (also known as "pollution prevention" and herein referred to as "P2"). P2 means reducing or eliminating pollutants from entering any waste stream or otherwise released into the environment prior to recycling, treatment, or disposal. EPA is interested in receiving proposals that:
1. Offer practical pollution prevention (P2) tools or approaches to measurably improve the environmental footprints of state agencies, federally-recognized tribes, intertribal consortia, businesses, municipal/local governments and/or local communities while also supporting efficiency to reduce resource use, expenditures, waste and liability costs.
2. Adhere to the statutory authorities for this program by using one or more of these technical assistance methods: a) research, b) investigation, c) experiments, d) education, e) training, f) studies and/or g) demonstration of innovative techniques - to carry out source reduction/P2 activities.
3. Place additional emphasis on documenting and sharing P2 best practices and innovations identified and developed through these grants so that others can replicate these approaches and outcomes.
4. Focus project activities on one or more of the P2 Program's National Emphasis Areas: Business-Based Pollution Prevention Solutions Supporting Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Priorities and Chemical Safety; Food and Beverage Manufacturing and Processing; and, Hazardous Materials Source Reduction Approaches in States or Communities.
Proposals are due Thursday, August 23, 11:59 pm (EDT).
For more information including further details about application requirements, please view the announcement here.
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NOAA in the Caribbean Newsletter
Please e-mail us at [email protected] to subscribe or unsubscribe to the newsletter or to submit any questions, comments, story ideas, artwork or photographs.
NOAA in the Caribbean Newsletter is produced by the NOAA in the Caribbean Steering Committee, including support from NOAA's Office of International Affairs,
Southeast And Caribbean Regional Collaboration Team, Office for Coastal Management, National Marine Fisheries Service SE Regional Office, Office of Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs, and National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science.
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