The focus of FY2009 partnership activities will be to produce fine-scale geospatial benthic mapping products to support inventory and monitoring for NPS Parks and Monuments in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Through the implementation of a multi-year Interagency Agreement, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Biogeography Branch (BB), will conduct mapping and characterization services for the Department of Interior (DOI), National Park Service (NPS), Inventory and Monitoring Program (I&M). This work is an expansion of ongoing mapping and monitoring efforts conducted by NOAA and NPS in the Caribbean, using standardized protocols that will enable the condition of the coral reef ecosystems around St John to be evaluated in the context of the rest of the Virgin Island Territories, the U.S. Caribbean and the nation as a whole. The products from this effort will provide an accurate, contemporary assessment of the abundance and distribution of marine habitats surrounding St John to support more effective management and conservation of ocean resources within the National Park System.
The NOAA/NCCOS Biogeography Branch is the developer of the analytical protocols used for mapping shallow to deep water benthic habitats found in and around the islands of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. The deep-water habitat maps will be developed using a new, hybrid semi-automated classification technique, which will integrate the underwater video data with a suite of morphometrics derived from acoustic imagery. The resulting deep and shallow-water maps will be merged to create a seamless benthic habitat map from the shoreline of St. John to approximately 255 meters in depth. In addition, NCCOS has been conducting comprehensive benthic habitat mapping throughout all U.S. jurisdictions, States, and Territories. The collection of the group of scientists that directly work for NOAA/NCCOS provide the most experience and proven technical capability to identify and delineate benthic habitats in the US Virgin Islands Department of Interior's (DOI) National Park and National Monuments. The NOAA/NCCOS/BB is a leader in the development of coral reef benthic habitat mapping products. By issuing this interagency agreement, NPS will be able to take advantage of the expertise and experience developed by NCCOS to create accurate and spatially resolved benthic habitat mapping in the DOI/USGS/NPS Caribbean parks and monuments to define the extent, type and distribution of seafloor habitats under DOI/USGS/NPS management.
The synthesis of existing geospatial data and collection of new data as part of this project will provide the most contemporary compilation of data within the network of NPS managed marine Ocean Parks. These products will provide fine-scale, contemporary assessment as to the status, abundance, and distribution of marine flora and fauna for St John, USVI. The results of these efforts will provide NPS increased technical capacity for ocean exploration, management, and stewardship. Direct implication to management measures include evaluation of management efficacy efforts, a spatial framework for improved monitoring sampling design, improved assessment of human-use and impact conditions, and strategic information.
Current/Completed -
Future -
September 30, 2008 through September 30, 2009
Project Manager: Tim Battista
1305 East West Highway
SSMC-IV, N/SCI-1
Silver Spring, MD 20910
301-713-3028 ext 171
