Notable Milestones

  • Compiled report of the 2006 field season for marine debris survey and removal
  • Completed the Coral Reef Ecosystem Monitoring Report for American Samoa and provided draft to partners
  • Conducted a research expedition on the NOAA Ship Hi'ialakai to map benthic habitat in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands
  • Created maps of benthic habitat at Pearl and Hermes Atoll based on optical surveys and disseminated them on the CRED Web site
  • Contributed high-resolution data sets from sampling sites in American Samoa and the Pacific Remote Island Areas to the national Coral Reef Information System
  • Conducted an external review of Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center programs
  • Launched a facilitated plan to ensure high quality data management at the Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center
  • Coordinated participation in theNorth Pacific Marine Science Organization
  • Ensured compliance with National Environmental Policy Act requirements, including documentation of PIFSC research programs on fish biology and stock assessment
  • Completed ecosystem and oceanography research on four key topics: competition between Hawaiian monk seals and other apex predators in the NWHI; pelagic habitat of loggerhead sea turtles; habitat of moonfish; and albacore fisheries oceanography in the American Samoa longline fishery
  • Compiled and submitted national reports and U.S. fishery statistics for highly migratory species to regional fishery management organizations and subsidiary bodies
  • Convened meetings of the ISC Billfish Working Group and ISC Bycatch Working Group and reported scientific findings and guidance to ISC Plenary
  • Estimated bycatch of fish and protected species in Pacific Islands Region fisheries and contributed results to the updated National Bycatch Report
  • Updated stock assessments of bigeye tuna and yellowfin tuna in the western central Pacific Ocean for presentation to Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission
  • Updated stock assessments of bottomfish in American Samoa, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and Guam and reported findings to the Western Pacific Fishery Management Council
  • Analyzed the economic impact of the 2006 swordfish fishery closure
  • Analyzed the impact of changes in fishing technology in the Hawaii longline fishery
  • Monitored Hawaii longline fishery catches of bigeye tuna in eastern Pacific Ocean to aid U.S. compliance with the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission catch quota
  • Completed a study of American Samoa, Guam, and Hawaii as "Fishing Communities" under the Magnuson-Stevens Act
  • Developed a system for monitoring bottomfish prices in the Hawaii fish market
  • Improved monitoring of commercial bottomfish landings in the main Hawaiian Islands
  • Produced reports of U.S. fishery statistics in Western Pacific Region and quarterly reports of the American Samoa and Hawaii-based longline fisheries
  • Completed IT certification and accreditation for PIFSC
  • Developed integrated database applications for dissemination of longline fishery statistics and management of PIFSC requisitions
  • Developed NOAA Fisheries guidelines for certifying an electronic logbook application
  • Developed, tested, and implemented InPort Metadata Catalog v. 1.2 for installation on the NOAA Fisheries server
  • Completed safety and environmental compliance inspections for all PIFSC facilities and implemented improvements
  • Built, installed and tested a passive acoustic array for research surveys on the NOAA Ship Oscar Elton Sette
  • Completed a plan to assess sea turtle populations in the Pacific Islands Region outside the Hawaiian Archipelago
  • Updated the Hawaiian Monk Seal Unusual Mortality Event Plan
  • Conducted population assessments of Hawaiian monk seals in the NWHI and MHI
  • Conducted analysis of acoustic data from high-frequency acoustic recording package deployed at Cross Seamount
  • Developed a database to integrate Hawaiian monk seal health and disease information with other monk seal data
  • Established an age and growth laboratory for Pacific marine turtles
  • Hosted workshop to develop a collaborative spinner dolphin photo ID catalog and helped establish the community-based Pacific Islands Photo-Identification Network
  • Published 33 peer-reviewed articles in scientific books and journals and 15 technical reports in support of the NOAA mission