We’re excited to announce our new Instagram account for NOAA Fisheries’ Southeast Fisheries Science Center and the Southeast Regional Office! We hope this new platform will provide more transparency and opportunities to engage with our communities throughout the region. We welcome you to follow along as we share science highlights, fun facts, and regulatory updates in a visually engaging way.

Scientists are using coral recruitment tiles to measure if and how restoration efforts like Mission: Iconic Reefs influence coral recruitment in the future. The team just finished deploying more than 30 coral recruitment tiles in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary to establish a baseline to compare future measurements taken after outplanted corals mature and spawn on their own.

For the first time, scientists documented the captive spawning of a species of mesophotic octocoral—a breakthrough that could further restoration efforts for deep coral habitats.

Typically, built marine structures are not designed to benefit natural habitats. However, there is growing recognition that these structures can be strategically designed to fulfill their original function, while also minimizing negative environmental impacts and supporting ecosystem restoration.

NOAA Fisheries and partners published research that identifies key habitat features of juvenile endangered smalltooth sawfish and predicts where else they could be. Credit: Olivier Born (Permit #22078)

Videos and images from advanced underwater cameras are a critical component of collecting data. We use this information to make informed management decisions for marine species and habitat.

A new publication and accompanying report by NOAA scientists and partners present a synthesis of relevant literature—known as a systematic map—on the performance of nature-based solutions for coastal protection in six ecosystems: salt marsh, seagrass, kelp forest, mangrove, coral reef, and shellfish reef. 

Also see: Nearly $37 Million Will Support Habitat Restoration in Coastal Louisiana

NOAA Fisheries’ final 2023 marine mammal stock assessment reports are now available. Updated regularly with the best available science, these stock assessments provide data on the health of marine mammal populations and inform efforts to sustainably manage them. We currently maintain stock assessment reports for 261 stocks, of which 66 reports are revised or new for 2023.