Fall 2006 U.S. Coral Reef Task Force Meeting

coral reef task force meeting

Coral Reef Task Force Meeting

The fall 2006 U.S. Coral Reef Task Force meeting will be held in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, October 24-28. The Task Force is co-chaired by NOAA and the Department of the Interior and includes members of 12 Federal agencies, seven States and Territories, and three Freely Associated States. The Task Force has led the development of national and local strategies to conserve coral reefs, increased collaboration among Federal agencies and jurisdictions in coral reef regions, and helped its members launch new actions to protect and manage reef ecosystems. In 2000, the Task Force developed the National Action Plan to Conserve Coral Reefs, the first comprehensive U.S. strategy to conserve coral reefs. The plan outlines 13 conservation strategies (goals) within two fundamental themes to address the most pressing challenges facing reefs today. The Task Force holds biannual public meetings to discuss key issues, propose new actions, and review progress.

The fall 2006 meeting will feature a keynote speech by Dr. Jeremy Jackson of Scripps Institution of Oceanography and a series of panels focused on coral reef management challenges and innovative solutions in the USVI and eastern Caribbean. Additionally, there are eight workshop sessions focused on building technical and management capacity to better address and mitigate the threats facing coral reef ecosystems. These sessions include: 1) Tools for Response to Injury Events in Coral Reefs, 2) USVI Coral Reef Ecosystem Management: Challenges & Solutions, 3)Coral Reef Conservation through Sustainable Tourism, 4) Rethinking local responses to mass coral bleaching: A Reef Manager’s Guide to Coral Bleaching, 5) Management Update on Endangered Species Act listed Acropora corals. For more information on the Task Force or the USVI meeting, visit www.coralreef.gov and review the press releases for the public meeting and public workshops.

For additional information, contact coralreef@noaa.gov.