Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands

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Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands

• John Starmer
• CNMI CRMO

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Pacific Marine Resources Institute 2007
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Background

• Population- 60,000
• Size- 600 km
• EEZ- 758,121 km2
• 14 islands
• Ethnicity
• Economy
• US Commonwealth

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Houk Van Woesick 2008
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(No Transcript)
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(No Transcript)
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Major Environmental Issues

• NPS Pollution
• Overfishing
• Lack of Awareness
• Development
• Data Gaps

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Federal Data Collection

• EMO/NOAA NWS- Surf Observations
• NASA- Satellite Imaging Systems
• NOAA CRED- Biological, Oceanographic
• NOAA VENTS- Marine Volcanoes
• USGS?- Tide Station, Saipan
• USGS- Volcanoes
• NOAA CHAMP-ICON
• USGS- Stream gauges
• USACOE-Wave Height??

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Local Data Collection

• CPA- Meteorological Stations at Airports
• CRMNPS- Shoreline Erosion
• DEQESL- Physical Bacterial WQ
• DLNR DFW- Forest Protected Area Surveys
• CRM EMO- Govt. GIS server (ARCIMS)
• CNMI MMT (DEQCRM)
• SST, WQ trends, ecological
• resilience, habitat mapping,
• WQ mapping, watershed modeling

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Programatic Goals

• Capacity Building- People, Training, Tools
• Radio-linked WQ monitoring network by 2010
• Build Physical Environmental Data- Meteorology,
  Oceanography
• Systems Level View- Watershed, Island,
  Archipelago, Region
• Genetic Connectivity
• Predictive GIS Models

Houk et al, 2007