Under a recently signed Memorandum of Understanding, the Service and NOAAs Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management agreed to strengthen efforts to conserve and protect coastal resources. Activities covered include habitat protection, endangered species recovery, environmental contaminants, fishery conservation, and wetlands restoration. The MOU also calls for increased collaboration with state and local entities.
"Millions of Americans as well as a diversity of plant and animal life depend on coastal areas," said Service Director Mollie Beattie. "We must work to ensure the health of these fragile ecosystems. This new agreement confirms the Services commitment to maintaining the viability of this irreplaceable resource."
Jeff Benoit, director of NOAAs Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management (OCRM), which will lead coordination activities, said, "Our experience has shown us the crucial importance of cooperation at all levels of government when addressing complex coastal environment issues. Our commitment is to foster responsible environmental stewardship all along our coasts through cutting edge science, creative management, and innovative agreements such as this."
Representing only 10 percent of the land area in the United States, coastal habitats nevertheless support a high proportion of the nations wildlife, including numerous migratory birds, important sport and commercial fisheries, and about one-third of the nations endangered species. Coastal regions are also this countrys most densely populated areas -- more than 132 million people, or 53 percent of the total U.S. population, lived within 50 miles of a coast in 1990. Coastal resources are increasingly threatened by such factors as municipal sewage and industrial waste disposal, agricultural runoff, oil spills, and urban and industrial development.
Highlights of the agreement include:
o The Service and OCRM will increase cooperative efforts to recover endangered and threatened species, including sea turtles and West Indian manatees in coastal areas of Florida, and salmon and other anadromous fish on the Pacific and Atlantic Coasts and in the Great Lakes.
o The OCRM will help the Service identify and evaluate additional areas to be included in the Services Coastal Ecosystems Program.
o The Service will provide OCRM with information on environmental contaminant impacts to fish and wildlife and help clean-up efforts in areas such as Puget Sound, Delaware Bay, Long Sound and New York Harbor, Galveston Bay, and San Francisco and San Diego Bays.
o The Service will help OCRM identify important habitats for designating marine sanctuaries in areas such as the Gulf of Maine, the Great Lakes, and the Caribbean and Hawaiian Islands. The agencies will work together to develop management plans for the sites.
o The agencies will increase cooperation in protecting coastal wetlands throughout the nation, especially in the Gulf of Mexico where coastal wetland losses have been greatest.
The Services Coastal Ecosystems Program, part of a broader ecosystem approach to fish and wildlife conservation, currently integrates all Service activities at nine areas designated as priority coastal watersheds. Nationwide Service coastal activities involve about 200 national wildlife refuges, 38 fishery resource offices, 51 national fish hatcheries, and 38 field offices.
NOAAs Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management oversees the Coastal Zone Management Program and the National Estuarine Research Reserve System, both of which are administered by state agencies; the Coastal Nonpoint Source Pollution Control Program; and the National Marine Sanctuary Program.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal Federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service manages the 93-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System which encompasses more than 530 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 66 national fish hatcheries, 64 fishery resource offices and 78 ecological services field stations. The agency enforces Federal wildlife laws, administers the Endangered Species Act, manages migratory bird populations, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign governments with their conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Aid program that distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and wildlife agencies. For further information about the programs and activities of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in the Great Lakes-Big Rivers Region, please visit our home page at: http://midwest.fws.gov
