NOAA's Role
NOAA has a long history of cooperative conservation. From improving habitat and rebuilding fishery stocks to helping mitigate the effects of drought and reduce the damage from natural disasters, NOAA has always relied on partnerships to help achieve its mission. By drawing on outside expertise and experience, NOAA is able to multiply the benefit of its programs.
The following list is hardly exhaustive of NOAA’s cooperative conservation efforts, but it is a sampling of the major programs. NOAA’s efforts, which address the bottom of the ocean to the outer reaches of the atmosphere, are as diverse as its mission.
National Weather Service
NOAA’s National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS) provides decision-makers with the best tools to manage scarce water resources and ensure an adequate supply of clean water for the nation. The NIDIS vision is to provide a dynamic and accessible drought information system that provides users, from the national to local levels, the ability to determine the potential impacts of drought and the associated risks they bring. Additional details about NIDIS can be found in this June 2004 report: "Creating A Drought Early Warning System for the 21st Century: The National Integrated Drought Information System."
Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research
A sea gull takes in the view at the San Francisco-Oakland Bridge.
Sea Grant is NOAA’s primary university-based program. It uses research and outreach programs to strengthen state and federal partnerships, and to promote better understanding, conservation, and use of America’s coastal resources.
Smart Growth - NOAA partners with EPA on the Smart Growth program to help coastal communities grow in ways that benefit the economy, public health, and the environment.
Nonpoint Education for Municipal Officials helps local officials use technology, such as GIS and statistical analyses, to link land use and water quality in planning decisions.
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National Marine Fisheries Service
Marine mammal bycatch reduction – NOAA works with stakeholders, academia, and government partners to develop take-reduction plans aimed at reducing bycatch in fisheries with minimal interference or impact to the fisheries.
Seabird bycatch reduction - NOAA Fisheries, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the commercial fishing industry collaborate in a program to promote seabird conservation by reducing or eliminating seabird bycatch in commercial fisheries.
Seabirds (mostly northern fulmars) congregate around the F/V Frontier Mariner, a commercial longline vessel.
NOAA Fisheries Enforcement Cooperative Enforcement Program disperses funds to coastal state and U.S. territory marine-conservation law-enforcement agencies, in return for enforcement of federal conservation laws by federally deputized state conservation officers.
The Office of Habitat Conservation has a multitude of programs that use partnerships to manage, conserve, and enhance habitats for fishery resources, protected species, and other living marine resources.
NOAA’s Community-based Restoration Program is a financial and technical assistance program that supports locally driven habitat restoration projects in marine, estuarine, and riparian areas. The program funds on-the-ground habitat restoration projects that (1) offer educational and social benefits for citizens and their communities, and (2) provide long-term ecological benefits for fishery resources.
NOAA's Damage Assessment and Restoration Program is responsible for assessing and restoring coastal and marine resources injured by oil spills, hazardous substance releases, and vessel groundings. Through the Cooperative Assessment Process, they regularly convene industry, government, and conservation groups to identify methods for improving assessment, reducing costs, and restoring resources faster and more effectively. The cooperative framework offers industry an effective way to resolve pollution liability without undermining NOAA’s responsibilities as a natural resource trustee for coastal and marine resources.
A young volunteer helps plant sea grasses.
NOAA's Fisheries Service Northeast Region's Cooperative Research Partners Program expands collaborative research among New England's commercial fishing industry, marine science, and fishery management communities. The goal of this program is to enhance the data upon which fishery management decisions are made, as well as to facilitate communication and collaboration among New England commercial fishermen, scientists, and fishery managers. Through this program, partners collaborate with the New England Fishery Management Council in setting research priorities to meet management and fishing industry needs.
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National Ocean Service
The National Marine Sanctuaries Program relies on hundreds of partnerships, including many at the state and local government level, which focus on education, resource management, and science activities.
The National Estuarine Research Reserve System (NERRS) is a partnership program between NOAA and the coastal states that protects more than one million acres of estuarine land and water. The NERRS provides essential habitat for wildlife; offers educational opportunities for students, teachers and the public; and serves as living laboratories for scientists.
Oil spill clean-up workers vacuum up thick, heavy oil from a sandy beach.
NOAA's Office of Response and Restoration helps emergency planners prepare for potential accidents; responds to dozens of spills of oil and other hazardous materials each year; assesses injury to coastal resources from releases of oil, other hazardous materials, vessel groundings, and abandoned vessels; and works with local partners to pursue restoration from those responsible for the harm.
NOAA's Marine Debris Program is working with external partners to undertake a national and international effort focusing on identifying, removing, reducing, and preventing debris in the marine environment.
The Coastal Services Center works with various branches of NOAA and other federal agencies to bring information, services, and technology to the nation's coastal resource managers. The Center is a partner in over 100 ongoing projects geared to resolve site-specific coastal issues.
Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in the United States are widely used as a tool for conserving the nation’s wealth of natural and cultural resources for all Americans. These resources, including coral reefs, kelp forests, whales, shipwrecks, and a wide variety of marine life in the oceans, coasts, and Great Lakes, are vital to the economic sustainability of the nation for this and future generations.
When caught in fishing nets, sea turtles cannot get to the surface to breath and therefore drown.
The Coastal Zone Management Program is a federal-state partnership dedicated to comprehensive management of the nation’s coastal resources, ensuring their protection for future generations while balancing national economic, cultural, and environmental interests.
NOAA’s Coral Reef Conservation Program (CRCP) - From mapping and monitoring to managing reef resources and removing harmful debris, NOAA's CRCP supports effective management and sound science to preserve, sustain, and restore valuable coral reef ecosystems.
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Interagency Initiatives
Estuary Restoration Act - As a member of the Estuary Habitat Restoration Council, NOAA is part of an interagency effort to create and maintain effective partnerships for the promotion of estuary habitat restoration, and develop and enhance restoration monitoring and research capabilities. In support of these efforts, NOAA is promoting regional restoration planning efforts, assessing habitat trends, working to evaluate restoration techniques, and developing innovative technologies for restoration and restoration monitoring.
Coastal America is a unique partnership of federal agencies, state and local governments, and private organizations. The partners work together to protect, preserve, and restore our nation's coasts. Through participation in the National and Regional Implementation Teams, NOAA contributes to the efforts of this partnership.
The National Fish Habitat Initiative is a nationwide strategy that harnesses the energies, expertise and existing partnerships of state and federal agencies, and conservation organizations. NOAA is currently participating in a number of work groups to aid in the development of a National Fish Habitat Plan.
The Great Lakes Regional Collaboration is a wide-ranging, cooperative effort to design and implement a strategy for the restoration, protection, and sustainable use of the Great Lakes. A framework was developed to guide the collaboration process designed to develop, by consensus, a strategy and action plan to restore and protect the Great Lakes. Since then, the Collaboration has developed a draft action plan of concrete steps to restore and protect this national treasure.
More than 1,500 people representing federal, state, local and tribal governments; nongovernmental entities; and private citizens have participated on eight issue-specific strategy teams to develop this proposed action plan. NOAA has representatives on each of the strategy teams and is participating in numerous activities to support the development of the action plan and the overall regional collaboration effort.
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