Lead: Charles Messing and Brian Walker

Prepare and submit a peer-reviewed manuscript from data generated during a 2011 research cruise funded by NOAA and CIOERT that provide data on deep-water coral and sponge occurrence and densities, and general deep-water benthic assemblage characterization and distribution off the Southeast U.S. coast (east coast of Florida and Florida Keys).

The work is being carried out as a part of the Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies (CIMAS) program and is relevant to two CIMAS themes: under 6) Ecosystem Management, this work will contribute to “an ecosystem approach to management in the Southeast U.S. coastal ocean...marine ecosystem”; under 7) Protection and Restoration of Resources, this work will improve biogeographical characterization of the Southeast U.S. coastal ocean, and will “enable improvements in defining, observing, forecasting, and protecting components of marine protected areas”. The publications will address NOAA Strategic Science Goal “Oceans” by improving “understanding of ecosystems to inform resource management decisions.”