http://doi.org/10.7289/V5/WP-PIFSC-17-001

"Marine resource governance in the United States is geopolitically separated, with different authorities responsible for the management of Federal vs. State or Territorial waters. In 2000, the Coral Reef Conservation Act (CRCA) authorized the long-term monitoring of U.S. coral reef ecosystems, and several ad hoc monitoring efforts were established, including NOAA's Pacific Reef Assessment and Monitoring Program (RAMP). Pacific RAMP is a part of the National Coral Reef Monitoring Program (NCRMP), and executed by the Coral Reef Ecosystem Program (CREP). The CREP is federally funded to survey coral reefs in US-affiliated waters in the Pacific (0--200-nm offshore), but most of the authority to manage the near-shore (within 3 nm) lies with jurisdictional agencies. As such, federal and jurisdictional monitoring programs often are designed for different purposes, work at different spatial scales and operate independently from one another"--Introduction. [doi:10.7289/V5/WP-PIFSC-17-001 (http://doi.org/10.7289/V5/WP-PIFSC-17-001)]

National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS)