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STONY CORAL RAPID BIOASSESSMENT PROTOCOL
Citation:
FISHER, W. S. STONY CORAL RAPID BIOASSESSMENT PROTOCOL. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/R-06/167, 2007.
Impact/Purpose:
Bioassessment tools for assessing coral reefs
Description:
At a time when coral reefs worldwide are in the greatest decline of their known existence, and despite the enormous value of coral reef ecosystem services, there are relatively few tools available to resource managers to offset the growing impact of human activities. However, well-defined bioassessments and biocriteria can be used to protect coral reefs in the same way they are used to protect other aquatic resources throughout the United States. By mandate of the Clean Water Act, US jurisdictions can implement measures of biological integrity to determine whether a particular waterbody is meeting resource expectations. When a waterbody is found impaired, jurisdictions have the authority to use those measures as the basis for implementing corrective action, including changes in human usage of both the watershed and waterbody.