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CORAL WATCH |
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Small grants for reef conservation available
Source:
NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program
Sept 6, 2007 The NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program
announces the availability of funding for General Coral Reef
Conservation Grants (GCRCGP) for FY08. Applications must be
submitted by 11:59 PM EST, November 1, 2007. This program
provides funding to institutions of higher education,
non-profit organizations, commercial organizations, Freely
Associated State
government agencies, and local and Indian tribal governments
to support coral reef conservation projects in the United
States and the Freely Associated States in the Pacific, as
authorized under the Coral Reef Conservation Act of 2000.
The full funding announcement and federal forms can be found
at www.grants.gov. or by emailing
andy.bruckner@noaa.gov or
Liz.fairey@noaa.gov. |
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Coral Watch Links
CORAL WATCH
Provides kits for users to monitor coral bleaching and
assess coral health
SECORE
An initiative of public aquariums and coral research institutions dedicated to nature conservation through the sustainable management of coral reefs
NOAA'S DRY TORTUGAS RESEARCH CRUISE
Corals are threatened by everything from global warming to destructive fishing gear. A heavy subject, but if there's anywhere you'd
like to be as a scientist studying those effects, it's the
Dry Tortugas National Park. The seven islands, composed of coral reefs and sand, are host to famous birds and
marine wildlife. The name is derived from the abundance of turtles that were once found there.
NOAA recently conducted the Tortugas Cruise 2007, studying the amazing corals and the ecosystems they support.
You can follow the cruise at this
NOAA website and see some amazing photos.
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Task Force launches climate change effort,
announces International Year of the Reef
Source:
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
Aug 27, 2007 During its biannual meeting this week in Pago Pago, American Samoa, the U. S. Coral Reef Task Force announced the formation of a new climate
change working group and endorsed an action plan for the International Year of the Reef 2008 that will involve government and non-government
partners in conservation. The new climate change working group is charged with developing best practices to help local resource managers minimize the impact of
climate-induced stresses like coral bleaching while better educating the public about the impacts of climate change on the health and survival of
reef resources. Components of the decision also called for developing bleaching response plans for each U.S. state and territory with reefs,
and assessing what expertise and resources federal agencies have to mitigate risk and damage. For more information, visit the
US Coral Reef Task Force
online,
NOAA
or the
US Department of the Interior. |
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Coral spawning at Flower Garden Banks
Source:
Flower Garden Banks NMS
Aug 20, 2007 - Small amounts of coral spawn were
observed at the East Flower Garden Bank in the NW Gulf of
Mexico, on the evening of August 5, 2007. Water temperature
at depth was 84F. Salinity was measured at 25m at 34.2ppt,
and 31.7ppt on the surface. This freshwater event was also
reflected in NOAA satellite imagery. |
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 Podcast examines coral decline
Source: www.earthsky.org
Aug 28, 2007 - Listen to a 10-minute podcast on Earth and Sky,
as a marine scientist tracks coral reef history to explain
coral decline:
Coral reefs in decline: has it happened before?
Dr. Aronson of the Dauphin Island Sea Lab in Alabama |
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Caribbean
bleaching spreadsheet available
Source: CoralList
Aug 3, 2007 - a spreadsheet has been developed for
entering and partially analyzing bleaching category data,
specifically for the Caribbean. To use it one needs to be
able to identify corals to the genus or species and estimate
the extent of bleaching of each colony. The method has the
advantage of giving taxa and site-specific bleaching indices.
It is available on the web along with a slide show that
explains the method in more detail at:
http://idisk.mac.com/trmcclanahan-Public?view=web
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Bleaching has
begun in Florida Keys
Source: Mark Eakin (Mark.Eakin@noaa.gov),
CoralList
July 31, 2007 - Following
on to the increased potential for bleaching that we reported
two weeks ago, thermal stress has continued to increase in
the lower Florida Keys. This results from heating of the
Florida Bay waters to an anomaly well over 1 degree C.
Another similar region of anomalous warmth extends along the
western coast of the Bahamas from Andros Island to Grand
Bahamas Island. The Florida Bay waters that bathe the lower
Florida Keys and the waters from northwestern Andros to
Bimini have accumulated more than 4 degree weeks of warming,
placing both areas under a Level 1 Bleaching Alert.
The automated Satellite Bleaching Alert from earlier today
follows. Please report any bleaching events (or non-events)
at http://www.reefbase.org/input/bleachingreport/index.asp
Coral Reef Watch Resources:
Experimental Florida Reef Tract page
Google Earth data
Experimental Doldrums Product
NOAA's 24 index sites around the globe
Current HotSpot and Degree Heating Week
charts, HDF data, and GoogleEarth products
NOAA's Integrated Coral Observing
Network (ICON) for the Caribbean
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Gulf of Mexico Foundation - PMB 51, 5403 Everhart - Corpus Christi, TX 78411
(800) 884-4175 toll free - (361) 882-3939 phone - (361) 882-1262 fax
e-mail:
info@gulfmex.org
website:
gulfmex.org
webmaster:
Carrie Robertson
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