National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries
NOAA Damage Assessment, Remediation and Restoration Program (DARRP)
Ongoing
The Challenge
In June 2019, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Restoration Center announced a five-year cooperative agreement with The Water Institute under the Damage Assessment, Remediation and Restoration Program (DARRP), which restores natural resources after disasters like oil spills or releases of hazardous waste. On June 1, 2024, a second cooperative agreement was signed that continues this partnership through May 2029. This second cooperative agreement holds the potential for up to $25M of work. Cooperative agreements provide the vehicle for NOAA to partner with entities outside of NOAA who share common objectives. Specific activities are approved by NOAA through amendments to the agreement.
To date, the Institute and NOAA have partnered on activities that address scientific needs related to planning, implementing, and monitoring projects aimed to restore natural resources injured by oil or other hazardous waste spills.
The Approach
To date, the Institute has worked with NOAA on highly collaborative activities that support restoration of natural resources injured by the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill. A particular focus of these activities has been on monitoring and assessment of restoration project priorities and their impacts on the ecosystem at a regional scale.
This is an important opportunity to assess impacts of large-scale habitat restoration on the populations and productivity of the ecosystem, from the base of the food chain (e.g., benthic animals, zooplankton, shrimp, and crabs) to higher consumers such as marine mammals.
Activities include:
- Developing and implementing a monitoring plan to assess lower trophic levels of Barataria Bay – NOAA project page
- Developing and implementing a monitoring plan to assess benefits of the BA-207 Upper Barataria Restoration wetland project on fishes and invertebrates (i.e., nekton) – NOAA project page
- Developing and implementing a monitoring plan to assess the effects of wetland restoration on fish and invertebrates in Barataria and Terrebonne Bays – NOAA project page
The Institute accomplishes this work by joining forces with other regional experts. We serve as a collaboration hub with academic and other non-profit organizations to ensure that the best available science is being built upon to advance the community’s understanding of the ecosystem.
This is just the beginning of the work the Institute will do in cooperation with partners to progress work under this DARRP agreement.
KEY TEAM MEMBERS
