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March 2, 2000 — In a groundbreaking step, the intergovernmental U.S. Coral Reef Task Force unveiled the first-ever national plan to comprehensively and aggressively address the most pressing challenges facing reefs today.

As members of the U.S. Coral Reef Task Force, NOAA, the U.S. Department of the Interior, and other federal agencies are joining with coastal states and territories to launch this cooperative effort to help save the world's remarkable reefs. FY 2000 provides the first federal dollars specifically targeted to cooperatively saving reefs $6 million to NOAA and $5 million to the U.S. Department of the Interior. The President has requested a total of $25 million for FY 2001.

Decisive action is crucial because two-thirds of the world's reefs may be dying 10 percent are already lost; another 30 percent may die in the next 10 to 20 years. If current conditions continue, still another 30 percent may perish by 2050. That adds up to an alarming 70 percent of the world's reefs. Pollution, over-fishing and other human activities are driving this crisis.

Why Coral Reefs Are So Vital
The coral reef crisis places a multitude of human, natural and economic needs in jeopardy.
The rapid decline of the world's productive and economically vital coral reefs represents a serious threat to consumers, businesses, communities, and the environment. As the "rain forests of the sea," coral reefs provide services estimated to be worth as much as $375 billion each year, a staggering figure for an ecosystem covering less than one percent of the Earth's surface.

Corals are tiny plant-like animals that depend on clean, clear waters and sunlight to survive. Under these conditions, corals gradually build the coral skeleton that shapes the reef and transforms it into an elaborate structure that can live for thousands of years. The reef structure is home to thousands of fish, lobsters, sea turtles, and other species found no where else. U.S. coral reefs cover about 6, 500 square miles, over 90 percent of them associated with U.S. islands in the western Pacific; the remainder located off Florida, Texas, and the U.S. islands in the Caribbean.

In the United States alone, coral reefs support millions of jobs. Every year, they contribute
billions of dollars in U.S. economic activity from tourism, fisheries and recreation.

Tourism U.S. coral reef ecosystems support billions of dollars in tourism annually, over $1.2
billion each year in the Florida Keys alone. Diving tours, fishing trips, hotels, restaurants, and other businesses close to the reefs provide millions of jobs and support many regional economies in the U.S. and developing countries. In Hawaii, gross revenues generated from just a single, half square mile coral reef reserve are estimated to be over $8.6 million each year.

Fishing 50 percent of all federally managed U.S. fisheries species depend on coral reefs and
associated seagrass and mangrove habitats for part of their life cycle. The annual dockside value of commercial U.S. fisheries from coral reefs is over $100 million.
The annual value of reef-dependent recreational fisheries probably exceeds $100 million per
year. In developing countries, coral reefs contribute about one-quarter of the total fish catch, providing food to about one billion people in Asia alone.

Also threatened by the current global reef crisis is the exciting promise of life-saving and other critical pharmaceuticals CORAL REEFS ARE THE MEDICINE CHESTS OF THE 21st
CENTURY. Coral reefs are considered to be one of the primary sources of new medicines and biochemicals in the new century. Unparalleled biodiversity reefs support at least one million species holds great promise for natural products derived from reef-dwelling organisms. Examples include many pharmaceuticals now being developed as possible cures for cancer, arthritis, human bacterial infections, viruses, and other diseases.

Coastal Protection is a key value. Coral reefs buffer adjacent shorelines from wave action and thereby prevent erosion, property damage and loss of life. They further protect the highly productive mangrove fisheries and wetlands along the coast, as well as ports and harbors and the economies they support. Globally, about half a billion people live within 60 miles of a coral reef and benefit from its production and protection. Low-lying islands in the Western Pacific are at particular risk of inundation. Should the reefs be destroyed, waves will wash right over the islands.

Living Museums. Coral reefs are a significant part of our natural heritage. Not widely known is that some of the largest individual coral colonies found on U.S. reefs today were alive and thriving centuries before the European colonization of the nearby shores. Rivaling old growth forests in the longevity of their biological communities, well-developed reefs reflect thousands of years of history. Their scientific, aesthetic and conservation value is unparalleled in the world's oceans.

Why Coral Reefs Are in Peril
Coral reefs are vulnerable to harmful environmental changes, including many resulting from
human activities. This is particularly true since most coral reefs occur in shallow water near shore where impacts are the greatest. Among the accelerating threats, those below are
particularly severe and since most stem directly from human activities in coastal and inland
areas, they are potentially amenable to reduction or elimination through carefully designed
strategic action:

• Pollution from poor land use, chemical loading, marine debris, and invasive alien species.
• Over-fishing and related harm to habitats by fishing gear and marine debris.
• Destructive fishing practices, such as cyanide and dynamite fishing that destroy large sections of reef and kill many species not yet harvested.
• Dredging and shoreline modification in connection with coastal navigation or development.
• Vessel groundings and anchoring that directly destroy corals and reef framework.
• Disease outbreaks that are increasingly prevalent in reef ecosystems.
• Global climate change and associated impacts such as coral bleaching, more frequent storms and rise in sea level.

National Plan Calls for Significant New Action to Save Coral Reefs
The new National Action Plan is designed to be the nation's roadmap in more effectively
understanding coral reef ecosystems and reducing the adverse impacts of human activities. The Action Plan responds to the urgency of the current situation, drawing on the expertise and commitment of hundreds of public and private stakeholders. The Action Plan calls for:

Mapping
To help communities and managers protect the reefs, comprehensive digital maps will be
developed of all U.S. coral reefs. Satellites, aircraft and divers will help the Task Force build
this foundation for proactive management measures. Right now, less than five percent of all U.S. reefs have been adequately mapped. To most effectively direct limited resources and protect these areas, we need to learn where the reefs are, what kind of reefs they are, and who lives on them and in them. To meet urgent management needs, the first priority will be to complete ongoing mapping of Caribbean reefs and reefs on the eight main Hawaiian Islands. At current funding levels ($1 million per year from NOAA), NOAA estimates that all U.S. coral reefs will be mapped by 2009.

Monitoring
Hand-in-hand with mapping, the National Plan calls for an extensive public/private stakeholder effort to build an integrated national reef monitoring system to profile and track the health of U.S. coral reefs. Over time, divers will assess the health of the reefs and, in the process, develop both an ongoing story of the reefs and a consistent language with which to study them. The monitoring will build on and link existing federal, state and territorial monitoring as well as implement new monitoring to fill gaps where possible.

In the Caribbean, CARICOMP is already a microcosm of the upcoming national effort.
Twenty-five marine laboratories, parks and reserves on 13 islands and nine mainland countries have joined CARICOMP, the Caribbean Coastal Marine Productivity Programme.
The shared aim is to understand the structure, function and productivity of coral reefs and to track health trends. In FY 2000, NOAA, the Department of the Interior, and the Environmental Protection Agency will provide critical funding to support this valuable CARICOMP network as one piece of the monitoring system.

Marine Protected Areas
The U.S. Coral Reef Task Force Plan calls for expanding the existing network of coral reef
protected areas to ensure the survival of key sites. These sites will be chosen for their scientific, recreational and cultural significance and for their importance to fisheries. Right now, existing U.S. coral reef protected areas cannot adequately ensure conservation of U.S. reefs. There are serious gaps in the areas we protect, and gaps in the levels of protection within already designated sites. The Plan recommends that new management strategies be implemented and existing strategies reviewed for each site.

The Task Force recommends that, by 2010, the U.S. designate 20 percent of all U.S. coral reefs as no-take ecological reserves. This will ensure that vital reef areas survive to replenish fisheries and provide other critical needs for long-term survival of the nation's vital coral reefs.

In Florida, NOAA, the Department of the Interior, other federal and state agencies and a wide range of other stakeholders are collaboratively working to establish a no-take ecological reserve to protect the Tortugas, a spectacular ocean wilderness that hosts healthy coral, clean water and major fish spawning sites. The Tortugas are already showing signs of human stress, including overfishing, reef damage from fishing gear, and deep reefs that have been crushed by huge anchors from large freighters. The proposed Tortugas reserve, located 70 miles west of Key West in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, would be one of the largest no-take ecological reserves in the world.

All-Islands Coral Reef Initiative
U.S. states and territories have significant responsibilities for stewardship of large portions of U.S. coral reefs. Since 1994, the islands of Hawaii, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands have been working together to protect and sustainably use coral reefs. The U.S. All-Islands Coral Reef Initiative outlines the highest priorities from each of these areas to address the coral reef crisis. These states and territories have a key role to play in stewardship of U.S. coral reefs through local action and as members of the U.S. Coral Reef Task Force.

To address priorities of U.S., state and territorial islands, NOAA and the Department of the
Interior will provide $1.35 million in FY 2000 to assist U.S. islands to improve coral reef
management and protection, including monitoring, education and designation of marine
protected areas.

Implementation Critical to the Future of Coral Reefs
Funding and partnerships are critical to fulfilling the actions and recommendations of the
National Action Plan. In FY 2000, Congress appropriated some of the first funding to NOAA
and the Department of the Interior to specifically address the U.S coral reef crisis.

In FY 2001, the President's budget requests $25 million for NOAA and the Department of the Interior to continue this effort and implement significant portions of the National Action Plan. This funding, along with partnerships with other federal agencies, states and territories, industry, academia, other non-governmental organizations, and individuals.
Everyone has an important role to play in implementing the Task Force recommendations and saving coral reefs.