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About Beaufort Lab
The Beaufort Laboratory is the home for coastal science of two NOAA components, the National Ocean Service (NOS), including CCFHR and NERRS, and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS). The Laboratory has a location uniquely suited to the fulfillment of NOAA missions. The Laboratory is physically located less than 1 mile from the Beaufort Inlet and Morehead City Seaport.
The Center has convenient access to important biogeographical and ecological boundaries such as Cape Hatteras and the Gulf Stream. The Beaufort Laboratory is within 20 km of the second largest estuarine complex on the east coast (Pamlico/Albemarle Sound). Estuarine and coastal ocean ecosystems are near at hand for field studies. The Center houses facilities to support both ecologically important field and experimental laboratory research. Near at hand is the Rachel Carson component of the North Carolina Estuarine Research Reserve within view of Beaufort Laboratory’s Pivers Island campus. Other State of North Carolina and academic institutions engaged in marine research as well as a NOAA National Weather Service Station are located within the county providing the opportunity for fruitful partnerships in cooperative science. North Carolina’s temperate climate allows field research to be conducted throughout the entire year.
The Center provides scientific information to coastal managers useful in their roles as coastal stewards and decision makers. NOAA managed marine sanctuaries and estuarine reserves as well as estuaries and coastal waters are areas of special emphasis. We describe, map, and characterize coastal habitats such as salt marshes, seagrass meadows, and coral reefs to develop an understanding of the processes that determine their functioning and utilization by humans and other species. A primary use of this knowledge is to plan and monitor restoration of damaged habitats. In addition, the effectiveness of Marine Protected Areas is a related subject of current research.
Fisheries research, conducted by the NMFS component, emphasizes development of stock assessments for Menhaden Catch commercially important species in the South Atlantic and Gulf coasts. This work involves understanding critical life history characteristics and the impact of harvest, environmental variability and natural mortality on population dynamics. Reef fish and menhaden populations are of special concern with long term data sets exceeding thirty years. Supporting research includes habitat dependence, ecosystem modeling, food web definition, physiology, genetics, and oceanography. Marine mammal and sea turtle biological studies are conducted to better sustain these protected species.
Sophisticated ecological, chemical, biochemical, and satellite imagery methodologies are used in the course of these studies. The Information Technology Group provides computing, GIS and library resources used by other research groups within the Center. These resources, publications, and data outputs of our research are shared with the wider academic and governmental research communities. A growing area of our efforts seeks to turn our scientific understanding into predictions and ecological forecasts for use by the public.