Cruise report, coral reef ecosystem research NOAA ship Nancy Foster, NF-07-05 (US STATE DEPARTMENT CRUISE ID: DOS-2006-113) , March 28, 2007 through April 9, 2007

To gain the information necessary to develop more specific hypotheses, the first research cruise of this project (DOS-2006-113 / NOAA-NF0705) was conducted between March 28, 2007 and April 9, 2007 aboard the NOAA Ship Nancy Foster. This survey sampled water properties, currents, and dispersal and transport of settlement-stage larvae in the VI and neighboring regions. Once the biological samples have been sorted and the oceanographic data have been analyzed, results from this cruise should yield not only an understanding of regional spatial variation in the supply of settlement-stage fishes, but also insights into the relative importance of Grammanik Bank and its MPAs as a source of juvenile fishes recruiting to the waters of the VI. 2007 Coral Reef Ecology Coral Reef Fishes Hind Bank Marine Conservation District Grammanik Bank OAR (Oceanic and Atmospheric Research) AOML (Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory) CoRIS (Coral Reef Information System) Submitted Public Domain 2256