MDBC Active Management and Protection (AMP) Project Records
This is a public repository for the MDBC Active Management and Protection (AMP) Project. This includes documents and products that are pertinent to the AMP Project and stakeholders but are not appropriate for the MDBC Portfolio Deliverables repository, or archives like NCEI and the NOAA Institutional Repository. Project reports and documents are also available on the DWH Restoration Portal project record. Documents and products related to the other project teams (MGM, HAE, and CPT) and Portfolio Deliverables can be accessed by navigating to the DWH MDBC Portfolio Project Page.
About the Active Management and Protection Project [click to display]
Despite the depth at which mesophotic and deep benthic communities (MDBC) occur, human activities can threaten the health and resiliency of these communities. This project will advance the management and protection of these communities through development of a framework that includes monitoring, education, outreach, engagement, and direct threat reduction. Project activities include: (1) education and outreach targeting resource users and the public, and engagement of stakeholders and development of socioeconomic analyses to evaluate potential impacts of management or protection actions and, (2) directly addressing threats to MDBC through management activities such as mooring buoy installations, removal of invasive species such as lionfish, documentation and removal of marine debris and derelict fishing gear, and assessing and remediating risks associated with leaking and abandoned oil and gas infrastructure.
About the MDBC Portfolio [click to display]
In 2016, the Deepwater Horizon Natural Resource Trustees reached a settlement resulting from the Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) process to resolve BP Exploration and Production’s liability for natural resource injuries caused by the Deepwater Horizon (DWH) oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Part of the settlement requires BP to pay up to $8.8 billion dollars to federal and state trustees for the purposes of restoring natural resources that were injured by the spill, and the services they provided. More details can be found at the Deepwater Horizon NRDA page: A Comprehensive Restoration Plan for the Gulf of Mexico.
The DWH Open Ocean Trustee Implementation Group (OO TIG) includes the four federal Trustee agencies: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA); U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI); U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA); and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The trustees work together to plan and conduct restoration for species injured by the oil spill, including wide-ranging and migratory species. Questions about the OO TIG can be directed to openocean.TIG@noaa.gov. Additional information can be found in the DWH Administrative Record.
Mesophotic and deep benthic communities (MDBC) are vast and complex ecosystems on the ocean floor that are a foundation of Gulf of Mexico food webs. The MDBC portfolio is a suite of four projects selected by the OO TIG to restore MDBC injured by the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The four projects include: Mapping, Ground-truthing, and Predictive Habitat Modeling (MGM), Habitat Assessment and Evaluation (HAE), Coral Propagation Technique Development (CPT), and Active Management and Protection (AMP).