CRM Marine Monitoring Program
CRM's monitoring section is funded by a grant from NOAA that supports an interagency Coral Reef Ecosystems Monitoring Program. The local interagency Marine Monitoring Team (MMT) includes participants from Coastal Resources Management Office (CRM), Division of Environmental Quality (DEQ) and Division of Fish and Wildlife (DFW). The MMT represents a collaborative commitment by local government agencies to monitor and assess the health of CNMI's coral reefs and related ecosystems. Local efforts include:
- CNMI-wide Long-term Marine Monitoring Program
- Saipan Lagoon Habitat Mapping and Assessment Project
- Saipan Lagoon Current Study
- Reef Flat Monitoring
- CNMI Biodiversity Survey
Details about these projects, publications and data products produced by the program are all available at CNMI Marine Monitoring Program website.
Collaboration with federal partners including NOAA, US EPA, and ACOE have provided further opportunities to expand local and regional knowledge of the CNMI's coral reefs. Three successful "MARAMP" research cruises funded by NOAA/NMFS/PIFSC Coral Reef Ecosystem Division were completed in 2003, 2005 and 2007. Information and products from these cruises is available through the CRED web site: http://www.pifsc.noaa.gov/cred/
The NOAA/NCCOS/CCMA Biogeography Team funded the production of a US Pacific Coral Reef Atlas. They also continue to support the management of the Coral Reef Ecoystem Monitoring Grant program, part of the US Coral Reef Initiative.
CNMI Scientific Diving Program
The CNMI's marine resource management agencies participate in an interagency scientific diving safety program. Its purpose is to allow the employees of Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands (CNMI) engaged in scientific diving to work under safe conditions. This program was prepared to meet the regulations of the U.S. Department of Labor (Code of Federal Regulations 29, Part 1910, Subpart T). Current member of this program are the Division of Environmental Quality, the Coastal Resources Management Office and the Division of Fish and Wildlife (Fisheries Section). The program currently has a reciprocity agreement with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency that expires December 31, 2006.
The CNMI Scientific
Diver’s Group thanks the Government
of Guam’s Division of Aquatic and Wildlife Resources, University
of Guam, University of Hawaii, and the United States Naval Sea Systems
Command for providing the framework and basis for this program.
CNMI Scientific
Diving Manual
An example of a habitat map from Saipan Lagoon