Long-term Marine Monitoring Program final report : NA13NOS4820010, award period October 1, 2013- September 30, 2016

"Despite multiple transfers of personnel within the monitoring program throughout this award period, the marine monitoring team (MMT) continues to collect ecological data for the CNMI. During this reporting period the MMT managed to conduct 59 biological surveys at 52 long-term monitoring sites across Saipan, Tinian, Aguigan, and Rota (Table1). Standardized surveys collect data on coral, fish, algae, non-coral macroinvertebrate, and seagrass assemblages across the various marine habitats and management areas of the CNMI, including marine protected areas, species reserves, and priority watersheds. In addition to the standard long-term monitoring efforts, the MMT has conducted over 100 additional surveys in support of related projects including a study on coral reef resilience, , and participated in three expeditions to the remote northern islands. Finally, with the increase of development in the CNMI, the data collected by this program is an essential baseline to monitor the effects these activities have on our marine resources. In this report we briefly summarize size-class diversity, abundance and biomass data for coral, algae, benthic and fish measures collected throughout the CNMI. We also present current data at three of the CNMI's priority watersheds; Talakhaya, Laolao, and Garapan. The data collected and analyzed by the MMT provides crucial information on the environmental and anthropogenic causes of reef decline, the factors contributing to reef resilience and vulnerability, and the effectiveness of these management activities. This information then feeds back to support adaptive management strategies, in hopes of improving these watersheds"--Summary. 2017 Grant no. NA13NOS4820010 NOS (National Ocean Service) CoRIS (Coral Reef Information System) Library CRCP Project ID ; 198 Public Domain 1936