NOAA CSCOR/COP News

Catherine Naum
catherine.naum@noaa.gov

NOAA's Center for Sponsored Coastal Ocean Research (CSCOR) sponsors competitive research programs that provide scientific information, tools, and predictive capabilities to assist decision makers in meeting the challenges of managing our Nation's coastal resources (www.cop.noaa.gov). The following represents recent program activities.

PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS

Fiscal Year 2007 Funding Announcements Are Released!

Coastal Hypoxia Research Program (CHRP)

Closing Date for Applications: 3 PM EST September 11, 2006

Summary Description: NCCOS/CSCOR is soliciting proposals for projects of 2 to 5 years in duration that advance understanding, predicting, and managing the causes and ecological and economic impacts of hypoxia in representative coastal ecosystems. The program priorities for this opportunity support NOAA's mission support goal of: Ecosystems- Protect, Restore, and Manage use of Coastal and Ocean Resources through Ecosystem-Based Management.

For more information on the CHRP program, please see: http://www.cop.noaa.gov/stressors/pollution/current/chrp.html

Monitoring and Event Response for Harmful Algal Blooms (MERHAB)

Closing Date for Applications: 3 PM EST October 2, 2006

Summary Description: NCCOS/CSCOR is soliciting proposals for two types of research projects; MERHAB-targeted and MERHAB-regional. MERHAB-targeted proposals will incorporate tools, approaches and technologies from HAB research programs into existing harmful algal bloom (HAB) monitoring programs. MERHAB regional proposals will create partnerships to enhance and sustain routine HAB monitoring capabilities and provide managers with timely information needed to mitigate HAB impacts on coastal communities. The program priorities for this opportunity support NOAA's mission support goal of: Ecosystems- Protect, Restore, and Manage Use of Coastal and Ocean resources through Ecosystem-Based Management.

For more information on the MERHAB program, please see: http://www.cop.noaa.gov/stressors/extremeevents/hab/current/fact-merhab.html

Cumulative Impacts of Multiple Stressors (Multi-Stress)

Closing Date for Applications: 3 PM EST October 23, 2006

Summary Description: NCCOS/CSCOR is soliciting proposals for projects of up to 5 years in duration to investigate the impacts of multiple stressors in coastal ocean ecosystems, including estuaries and the Great Lakes. These projects should be interdisciplinary, multiple investigator, and well-integrated studies designed to develop capabilities for understanding, predicting, and managing the effects of multiple stressors (both anthropogenic and natural) in coastal ecosystems. The program priorities for this opportunity support NOAA's mission support goal of Ecosystems- Protect, Restore, and Manage Use of Coastal and Ocean Resources through Ecosystem-Based Management.

For more information on the Multi-Stress program, please see: http://www.cop.noaa.gov/stressors/pollution/current/multi_stress-factsheet.html

Coral Reef Ecosystem Studies (CRES) 2007

Closing Date for Applications: 3 PM EST November 13, 2006

Summary Description: NCCOS/CSCOR is soliciting proposals for projects of 3-5 years in duration for the Coral Reef Ecosystem Studies Program (CRES), and 1-3 years in duration for the Deep Coral Reef Ecosystem Studies Program (Deep-CRES). The program priorities for this opportunity support NOAA's mission support goal of: Ecosystems- Protect, Restore, and Manage Use of Coastal and Ocean Resources through Ecosystem-Based Management.

For more information on the CRES program, please see: http://www.cop.noaa.gov/ecosystems/coralreefs/current/cres-carib-factsheet-cr.html

For additional details on CSCOR funding opportunities, please visit the CSCOR Funding Announcements web site at:

http://www.cop.noaa.gov/opportunities/grants/funding_grants.html

Harmful Algal Bloom Event Response Program: A Year in Review

Over the past decade harmful algal blooms (HABs) have caused major resource, economic, and public health impacts along U.S. coasts. State and Federal managers responding to blooms often lack timely access to resources needed to minimize HAB impacts on coastal communities. The Center for Sponsored Coastal Ocean Research (CSCOR) HAB Event Response program addresses the needs of coastal managers faced with responding to unusual or unexpected HAB events by providing resources and access to expertise and new technology.

Since partnering with the National Office for Marine Biotoxins and Harmful Algal Blooms in 2003, the CSCOR Event Response Program has responded to over 10 HAB events impacting states along the East, Gulf and West Coasts. In 2005, CSCOR provided assistance during five HAB events. Sponsored projects have addressed a wide range of state and federal management and scientific needs from training opportunities for managers, to providing ship time for mapping the extent of a HAB event, or toxin analyses to determine the cause of marine mammal, fish, or bird mass mortality. For a summary of these responses, please visit online at: http://www.cop.noaa.gov/stressors/extremeevents/hab/current/fact-ev_resp.html.

For more information, please contact CSCOR.HAB_Event_Response@noaa.gov.

Coastal Science Results Synthesized and Made Accessible

CSCOR's mission is to provide the highest quality research in support of coastal management decisions through competitive, peer-reviewed research and holistic ecosystem studies. To ensure that decision makers have access to timely, appropriate and useful information CSCOR periodically sponsors the publication of research information in peer-reviewed science journals. Most recently, CSCOR has sponsored the publication of three dedicated scientific journal issues relating to (1) harmful algal blooms, (2) multiple stressors, and (3) eutrophication.

1. The most significant harmful algal bloom problem in the northeastern U.S. is paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) caused by species of the dinoflagellate Alexandrium fundyense. The affected resources are predominately shellfish, but PSP toxins also affect higher levels of the food-web, including lobsters, fish, and marine mammals. In support of the Ecology and Oceanography of Harmful Algal Blooms (ECOHAB) project in the coastal waters of the Northeast U.S., CSCOR co-sponsored a series of papers describing the results of the five-year ECOHAB Gulf of Maine program. These papers, recently published in a special issue of the journal Deep Sea Research, focus on ECOHAB Gulf of Maine findings related to toxic dinoflagellate Alexandrium fundyense blooms. Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography, Volume 52, Issues 19-21, Sept.-Oct. 2005, pp. 2365-2368 can be found online at: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/116/description?navopenmenu=-2

For more information on the ECOHAB program, see: http://www.cop.noaa.gov/stressors/extremeevents/hab/current/fact-ecohab.html

2. In the Aleutian Islands, a marked decline of Steller sea lions occurred; from more than 250,000 in the 1970s to less than 50,000 in the early 1990s. This dramatic population shift resulted in the western stock of Steller sea lions being declared \u201cthreatened\u201d in 1990. The cause of their decline was unknown, but the most likely mechanisms included: climate shifts, direct or indirect effects of fisheries, diseases, and top-down control through predation by killer whales. As part of the effort to evaluate these competing hypotheses, and to understand why sea lion numbers continued to decline, Congress enacted legislation in 2001 that funded investigations of the possible causes of the decline in abundance of the western stock of Steller sea lions living from Kodiak Island, westward to the Aleutian Islands. The results of this special volume of Fisheries Oceanography, co-sponsored by CSCOR, provides the first comprehensive, integrated, and interdisciplinary examination of the marine ecosystem of the eastern and central Aleutian Archipelago; an area that is susceptible to climate shifts, anthropogenic influences and ecosystem change. Fisheries Oceanography, Volume 14 (supplement 1) - November 2005 can be found online at: http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/toc/fog/14/s1.

For more information on the Steller sea lion program, see: http://www.cop.noaa.gov/ecoforecasting/past/ef-ssl.html

3. Today, cultural eutrophication remains one of the foremost problems for protecting our valuable surface water resources. Over the last 40 years the explosion of eutrophication-related research has made it clear that a comprehensive strategy to prevent excessive amounts of nitrogen and phosphorus from entering our waterways is needed to protect our lakes, rivers, and coasts from water quality deterioration. CSCOR has co-sponsored a special series of papers updating our understanding of the science and management of eutrophication, and the links between nutrients and aquatic productivity. The papers in this special issue of Limnology and Oceanography provide a valuable cross section and synthesis of our current understanding of both freshwater and marine eutrophication science, and also serve to identify gaps in our knowledge to help guide future research and management strategies. Limnology and Oceanography, Vol. 51 (1, part 2), January 2006 can be found online at: http://222.aslo.org/lo/toc/vol_51/issue_1_part_2/index.html.

For more information on CSCOR's Hypoxia & Nutrient Pollution Program, see: http://www.cop.noaa.gov/stressors/pollution/welcome.html.

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