Marshalling US Agency Resources to Investigate Atlantic Submarine Canyons

Exploration and research in and around the Atlantic submarine canyons off the mid-atlantic and northeast U.S. were limited during the 1990s and 2000s. In response to emerging science and management drivers for data and information from shelf and slope habitats the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), and numerous academic partners focused a variety of ship and submersible assets on the Atlantic canyons between 2011 and 2015.

The data and information from more than 24 cruises are providing a wealth of new knowledge to scientists and managers interested in these critical offshore habitats. Over five field seasons, we applied the complementary capabilities of five ships, four submersibles and one camera system to acquire high-resolution multibeam data over all of the U.S. Atlantic Canyons and examine the diversity and distribution of deep-sea habitats - including newly discovered deep-sea coral and seep communities. These data were critical to a June 2015 recommendation by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council to protect over 38,000 sq miles (99,000 sq km) of offshore habitat from fishing impacts.

This presentation will provide a broad overview of United States’ coordinated investment in the characterization of the Atlantic U.S. canyons over the last four years and highlight mechanisms for data access. Though many areas requiring further exploration and research remain, this effort is a model of intra- and interagency coordination that quickly and efficiently gathers baseline information of critical importance to the science and management communities.