NOAA has identified the most immediate actions necessary to achieve the goals of Mission: Iconic Reefs, the first-of-its-kind effort to restore seven coral reef sites in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. Mission: Iconic Reefs 2022–2025 Priorities provides guidance on these highest priority actions. Contact: Jennifer Moore.

NOAA and our partners work to restore habitat in the Great Lakes region to support the fish, ecosystems, and communities that rely on these important natural resources. Learn about a few key numbers that help illustrate the scope of our habitat restoration work in the region through the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. Contact: Julie Simmons.

Five groups of acoustic telemetry receivers provide data on fish movements in the Chesapeake Bay. This information can help scientists learn more about a variety of species and can aid resource managers as they set regulations.  Contact: Kevin Schabow.

Beginning this spring, NOAA and partners will kick off a series of expeditions—totaling almost 200 days at sea—to map, assess, monitor, and sample deep-sea habitats in parts of the Gulf of Mexico. The exploration effort is part of four projects aimed at filling data gaps to help restore “mesophotic and deep benthic communities” impacted by the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill. These habitats, which include corals, sponges, and other invertebrates on the sea floor from around 150 feet to 1.5 miles deep. Contact: Kristopher Benson.

Six projects were approved to restore hundreds of acres of Louisiana wetlands, bird nesting areas, and oyster reefs, and to better understand dolphin populations in the Gulf of Mexico. They will be funded from two oil spill settlements—the 2006 Citgo Refinery spill which released 54,000 barrels of oil into the Calcasieu River estuary, and the 2016 Shell Green Canyon 248 spill, which released almost 2,000 barrels of oil into offshore waters. These are two of numerous oil spills NOAA and partners respond to, and work to restore impacts from, in Louisiana.  The Louisiana Oil Spill Coordinator Office reports responding to more than 370 oil spills in 2021 alone. Contact: Alejandra Mickle-Arce.

Is it possible to eat our way to cleaner water and more fish? A new global study shows that shellfish and seaweed aquaculture provide valuable benefits to people and ocean ecosystems. The study shows just how significant shellfish and seaweed aquaculture’s ability to soak up excess nutrients from the water can be. It also highlights the value of the habitat it provides for economically important fish species.

To celebrate Women's History Month, we are highlighting some of our colleagues who contribute to NOAA Fisheries' core missions every day. Learn more about their career journeys, why they became scientists, their day-to-day jobs, and what Women's History Month means to them.

In this video, NOAA authors Libby Jewett, director of the NOAA’s Ocean Acidification Program, and Kirstin Holsman, a research scientist from NOAA’s Alaska Fisheries Science Center, discuss the new report, Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation & Vulnerability. They served on an international team of authors who assessed scientific literature to prepare the new Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report’s chapter on North America recently released by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. It describes how climate change is already affecting the world’s human and natural systems.

The Sea Level Rise Technical Report provides the most up-to-date sea level rise projections available for all U.S. states and territories; decision-makers will look to it for information. This multi-agency effort, representing the first update since 2017, offers projections out to the year 2150 and information to help communities assess potential changes in average tide heights and height-specific threshold frequencies as they strive to adapt to sea level rise.

Restore America’s Estuaries, with support from Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana, will be holding the 11th National Coastal & Estuarine Summit in December in New Orleans to bring together the coastal restoration and management communities to explore issues, solutions, and lessons learned. Consider attending to learn more about recent habitat conservation topics and be sure to submit your proposals by April 8.

We will be celebrating Marsh Madness the week March 28- April 4 on social media and keeping a close eye on our brackish areas. Follow along @NOAAHabitat!