NOAA CoastWatch: implementation plan NOAA CoastWatch

NOAA CoastWatch focuses on specific regional and national priorities, such as noxious algal blooms (i.e., red tides), algal biomass (contributing to oxygen depletion), and mapping tidal wetland change. NOAA Line Offices (National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Ocean Service (NOS), National Weather Service (NWS), Office of Oceanic & Atmospheric Research (OAR), and National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS) will cooperatively develop and operate NOAA CoastWatch. Relevant NOAA resources will be brought together to provide a cohesive and near real-time delivery system to allow for time-critical "decision support" in response to rapidly emerging coastal environmental situations. Each Line Office within NOAA contributes from its existing base of expertise to provide comprehensive multidisciplinary information to the regions of concern for analysis and further dissemination to local governmental scientists and managers. NOAA CoastWatch directly supports agency statutory responsibilities in estuarine and marine science, living marine resource protection, and ecosystem monitoring and management contained in the Magnuson Fisheries Conservation and Management Act, the Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act, and other federal environmental statutes.