Pacific Islands: Science

The NOAA Fisheries Pacific Islands region encompasses a large percentage of the nation's ocean habitat to support fisheries stocks, marine mammals, coral reef ecosystems, and a broad spectrum of marine life. These ocean habitats include essential fish habitat under the Magnuson-Stevens Act, seamounts, trenches, and ridges, much of which occurs in the four Marine National Monuments. These ecosystems are important to Pacific Island communities, including Native Hawaiians, Chamorros, Carolinians, and American Samoans, for food, cultural practices, recreation, and overall livelihood. The Pacific Ocean exposes the islands’ coral reefs to large open ocean swells and equatorial currents, which play an important role in structuring the coral ecosystems in and around the Monuments, seamount, trenches, and ridges habitats, as well as the multitude of Pacific Islands.

Our habitat protection efforts include broad research programs on the marine habitat throughout the Pacific Islands region. Our goal is to conserve, protect, and restore marine habitat and coastal ecosystems. The management objectives and priorities for the Pacific Islands include Monument management efforts and the Fisheries Local Action Strategy, a collaborative effort to decrease fishing-related impacts to coral reefs locally. These efforts include:

• Habitat mapping and characterization
• Physical and biological oceanography studies
• Research on a variety of marine habitat issues, including marine debris, invasive species, and pollutant

We also work to increase partnerships with other federal and local authorities. These partnerships allow us to maintain sustainable coastal ecosystems and implement strategies that minimize the introduction and impacts of alien species and marine pollution. We provide technical reviews of all proposed federal actions in coastal habitats in the Pacific Islands region to eliminate or reduce potential negative environmental impacts on the marine habitat..