This report summarizes fiscal year 2020 and 2021 activities that supported management decisions, improved our understanding of deep-sea coral and sponge communities, and leveraged partnerships to enhance operational efficiency and effectiveness. Operating through NOAA Fisheries’ Office of Habitat Conservation, and funded at approximately $2.3 million annually to support national-scale research, the Program collaborates widely and leverages substantial funding to study the role of corals in support of deep-sea ecosystems.

This report summarizes fiscal year 2018 and 2019 activities that supported management decisions, improved our understanding of deep-sea coral communities, and prioritized partnerships to enhance operational efficiency and effectiveness. Operating through NOAA Fisheries’ Office of Habitat Conservation, and funded at approximately $2.3 million annually to support national-scale research, the Program collaborates widely to cost-effectively study the role of corals in support of deep-sea ecosystems.

The purpose of this cruise (project number NF-19-01) in particular was to collect multibeam sonar bathymetry, acoustic backscatter, remotely operated vehicle optical validation, and fishery acoustics within coastal waters of Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. Scientists collected high-resolution multibeam and fishery acoustic data in mid-water depths approximately 11 to 3066 meters, in order to continue characterizing seafloor habitats within all U.S. States, Territories, and Commonwealths.

This report describes the 2016 and 2017 research activities partially or fully funded by the Program to meet NOAA’s mandate to identify, study, and monitor deep-sea coral areas.

This report updates information on deep‐sea coral ecosystems and management efforts to protect them over the last decade, and presents a first summary of information on U.S. deep‐sea sponge ecosystems.