A major mission of the Protected Resources Division is to monitor the status of protected species in U.S. waters or waters where the U.S. has a vested interest. Most of this monitoring is conducted aboard NOAA research vessels. A geographic visualization of this research activity is presented below for ship-based surveys from 1986 to 2009 (information about cruises conducted prior to 1986 is not displayed here at this time).
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SWFSC PRD Ship Survey Geovisualization (KMZ: 93 KB)