Appendices 

Final Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for

Surveying and Mapping Projects in U.S. Waters for Coastal and 

Marine Data Acquisition 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 

National Ocean Service 

November 2022
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APPENDIX A: SUMMARY OF NOS PROGRAM OFFICES AND THEIR USE OF 

ACTIVE ACOUSTIC DATA COLLECTION TECHNOLOGY 
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Office of Coast Survey

The Office of Coast Survey carries out NOAA’s surveying and charting responsibility pursuant to the Coast 

and Geodetic Survey Act of 1947 and the Ocean and Coastal Mapping Integration Act of 2009. The Office 

of Coast Survey’s area of responsibility includes United States (U.S.) waters extending seaward to the 

limits of the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone (U.S. EEZ) – well over 3 million square nautical miles (nm2

) of 

U.S. waters. The program collects hydrographic data and creates and maintains marine charts and other 

products to support safe navigation for commercial shipping, the fishing industry, recreational boaters, 

and state and local governments. Hydrographic data are collected with Office of Coast Survey vessels, 

NOAA Office of Marine and Aviation Operations (OMAO) vessels, chartered (contracted) vessels, and 

opportunistically from other government, academic, and industry mapping efforts. The data and data 

products also support military and government operations. NOAA has identified 500,000 nm2 within the 

U.S. EEZ as “navigationally significant waters,” which are areas in greater need of modern hydrographic 

surveying. The Coast Survey Development Laboratory (CSDL) explores, develops, and transitions emerging 

technologies and techniques for charting, hydrographic, and oceanographic systems to support safe and 

efficient marine navigation and a healthy and sustainable coastal environment. The Joint Hydrographic 

Center, with its University of New Hampshire academic partner, conducts applied research and 

development on hydrographic and ocean mapping topics.

The Office of Coast Survey acquires hydrographic data to update the nation’s nautical charts with the 

accuracy essential to maintain the public trust in navigational products. The public may access survey data 

at NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), formerly the National Geophysical Data 

Center, and nautical charts are available from a variety of sources, including Coast Survey’s website. Office 

of Coast Survey activities include surveying navigationally significant areas annually using four OMAO 

ships (all of which are equipped with survey boats or “launches”), six navigation response team (NRT) 

survey boats, a 54-foot research vessel, and chartered vessels operated by private contractors.

The Office of Coast Survey contracts approximately half of its hydrographic survey projects. Contractors 

often use the same vessels from year to year, regardless of whether the vessels are chartered (i.e., “vessels 

of opportunity”) or owned by the contract firm. During transits, contractors operate under all of the 

normal regulations for vessels in the area, using shipping lanes, recommended routes, and natural 

channels as appropriate. Currently, the Coast Survey Development Laboratory is evaluating the use of

Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) and uncrewed surface vehicles (USVs) as tools for hydrographic 

surveying. The use of AUVs and USVs could greatly increase survey efficiency. Additionally, AUVs could be 

used for marine incident response and port security surveys due to their small size and flexible 

deployment options. The Office of Coast Survey funds hydrographic and ocean mapping research at the 

Joint Hydrographic Center via cooperative agreement.

Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services

The Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services (CO-OPS) and its predecessors have 

gathered oceanographic data along our nation's coasts for over 200 years. CO-OPS is the authoritative 

source for accurate, reliable, and timely measurements that support safe and efficient maritime 

commerce, sound coastal management, and recreation. CO-OPS maintains over 200 continuously 

operating water level stations throughout the U.S. and its territories, data from which support water level 

forecasts and real time observations, determination of water level based datums, and monitoring of long 

term trends in mean sea level (msl). The National Water Level Observation Network (NWLON) provides 

historical and present-day water level information to understand the patterns of water level trends and
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high tide events. The entire collection of water level data forms the basis of many NOAA products and 

services that have evolved to support both national and local needs. CO-OPS also developed and maintains 

the Physical Oceanographic Real-Time System (PORTS®

), a tool that integrates real-time environmental 

observations, forecasts, and other geospatial information from measurements of water levels, currents, 

salinity, and meteorological parameters (e.g., winds, atmospheric pressure, air and water temperatures). 

CO-OPS disseminates observations and predictions derived from these data to improve the safety and 

efficiency of maritime commerce and coastal resource management. The Ocean Systems Test and 

Evaluation Program (OSTEP) lab explores, develops, and transitions emerging technologies and techniques 

for collecting tidal and current data and oceanographic systems to support safe and efficient marine 

navigation and a healthy and sustainable coastal environment.

CO-OPS’ water level stations and PORTS Program use hydroacoustic tools associated with their tidal 

gauges and water level stations. A number of water level stations and current survey applications require 

implementation of an Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) along with an acoustic water level sensor 

that operates above the water.

For maritime navigation in harbors and coastal waterways, real-time water level information reduces risks 

to life, property, and the coastal environment. Real-time water level data from a nearby gauge provides 

mariners with the tide levels to inform decision-making to avoid groundings. This information is collected 

through ADCPs in the form of side-lookers, bottom-lookers, or bottom mounted devices, depending on 

the specific PORTS station requirements.

National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science

The National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS) conducts and funds research in support of NOS 

core priorities. In addition, NCCOS research focuses on four thematic priority areas: 1) coastal change: 

vulnerability, mitigation, and restoration; 2) marine spatial ecology; 3) stressor impacts and mitigation 

(e.g., harmful algal blooms) and 4) social science. NCCOS conducts work nationally through its facilities 

located in Silver Spring, MD; Charleston, SC; Beaufort, NC; Oxford, MD; and Kasitsna Bay, AK and funds 

external grant recipients nationwide through the Competitive Research Program. The majority of the 

NCCOS hydroacoustics survey work is conducted through the Biogeography Branch, which develops 

detailed benthic habitat and fish distribution maps via hydroacoustic or visual methods (e.g., selfcontained underwater breathing apparatus (SCUBA) diving, remotely operated vehicle (ROV) surveys, 

video cameras, etc.). The results of these data are used, among other things, to: (1) identify areas that 

may be high priorities for management or protection; (2) inform renewable energy infrastructure or 

aquaculture; and (3) understand the mechanisms that influence the distribution and connectivity of 

fishery resources.

NCCOS hydroacoustic activities currently involve developing innovative ecosystem maps, models, and 

assessments to guide communities in managing coastal ecosystems. Multibeam, single/splitbeam and 

side-scan sonar data are used to develop benthic seafloor habitat or cultural resource maps, as well as 

maps on the distribution and biomass of fishery resources. NCCOS also uses ROVs, AUVs, drop cameras, 

and divers to ground truth the benthic habitat maps for accuracy. NCCOS conducts mapping and other 

survey work nationwide in estuaries, and in marine ecosystems – especially in marine protected areas 

(MPAs), National Marine Sanctuaries, and coral reefs. Habitat maps enhance the ability of coastal 

managers and policy makers to assess, protect, and preserve the condition of marine ecosystems and are 

essential tools for ocean planning and ecosystem management. By providing the baseline data on the 

ecological condition of reefs and other natural resources, these data can show conservation efficacy over 
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time. They are most often used by federal and state planners to identify areas in need of enhanced 

management (e.g., protection of fish spawning areas and deep coral habitats) and facilitate informed 

decisions and proper placement of offshore energy development and aquaculture, as well as the 

examination of proposed changes in national marine sanctuary boundaries. Through acoustic sonar 

technologies, NCCOS has advanced understanding of the connectivity, distribution, abundance, ecology, 

and ecological condition of marine ecosystems. These ecosystems are often difficult to survey due to their 

remoteness (i.e., deep-sea habitats).

Office for Coastal Management

The Office of Coastal Management (OCM) is composed of four principal programs: Coastal Zone 

Management Program, National Estuarine Research Reserve System, Coral Reef Conservation Program

(CRCP), and Digital Coast Program. Major components of the Coastal Zone Management Program include 

federal consistency, nonpoint pollution control, and coastal zone enhancements. Thirty-four states and 

territories currently participate in the voluntary partnership. OCM provides annual cooperative 

agreements to these states for diverse projects that manage and enhance coastal areas. There are 29 

National Estuarine Research Reserves to which NOAA provides annual funding and technical guidance. 

Much of the day-to-day management is conducted by states or universities, in coordination with state and 

local partners. These reserves aim to protect and study important estuaries that, collectively, encompass 

more than 1.3 million acres. Program goals are purposefully broad and could include use of a wide array 

of hydroacoustic methods, such as tracking fish habitat utilization. The Coral Reef Conservation Act of 

2000 established the CRCP to protect, conserve, and restore the nation's coral reefs. The Program brings 

together expertise from across NOAA to address impacts from climate change and related ocean 

acidification, land-based sources of pollution and unsustainable fishing practices. It partners with state 

and territorial governments, academic institutions, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and 

community groups. The Program provides annual funds to support coral conservation projects and 

scientific studies to address the three primary threats. Finally, NOAA developed Digital Coast to provide 

coastal data and the tools, training, and other information necessary to make those data useful. Data sets 

range from economic data to satellite imagery and are designed to be most useful to the coastal 

management community.

OCM provides funds to coastal states and National Estuarine Research Reserves to conduct site-specific 

sonar benthic mapping exercises, though this occurs infrequently. OCM also provides funds to other levels 

of government (state, local, foreign), as well as to academia and non-profits, via grants, cooperative 

agreements, or contracts.

The CRCP provides funds to other parts of NOAA (e.g., NCCOS, Office of National Marine Sanctuaries 

[ONMS], and National Marine Fisheries Service [NMFS]), which may engage in hydroacoustic work. These 

“action offices” conduct any necessary NEPA analyses of those activities. In addition, CRCP develops and 

implements contracts, MOUs, and grants to federal, foreign, state, and local governments, as well as

academia and NGOs.

Some of the projects that have been funded through OCM include:

• Side scan sonar in the Hudson River;

• Acoustic backscatter imagery; and

• Benthic habitat mapping in the Tortugas area of south Florida and other areas as part of the 

Marine Cadastre for ocean use planning.
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Office of National Marine Sanctuaries

ONMS is the federal agency that oversees the fifteen sites in the National Marine Sanctuary System and 

two Marine National Monuments. Together, these protected areas encompass more than 600,000 square 

miles of ocean and Great Lake waters. National Marine Sanctuaries have been established via acts of 

Congress or an administrative process for focused, long-term management. The two Marine National 

Monuments (Papahānaumokuākea and Rose Atoll) were designated by Presidential proclamation under 

the Antiquities Act.

Sanctuaries and monuments contain unique resources, including: deep ocean habitats, kelp forests, coral 

and temperate reefs, whale migration corridors, deep-sea canyons, and historically significant shipwrecks 

and other underwater archaeological sites. Organizationally, the Sanctuary System is divided into four 

regions: Northeast and Great Lakes; Southeast Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico, and Caribbean; West Coast; and 

Pacific Islands. The mission of ONMS is to identify, protect, conserve, and enhance the natural and 

maritime heritage resources, values, and qualities of the National Marine Sanctuary System for present 

and future generations. The National Marine Sanctuaries Act (NMSA) is the governing statute for all 

designated sanctuaries. The act authorizes the U.S. Secretary of Commerce to designate as national 

marine sanctuaries areas of the marine environment or Great Lakes with special national significance due 

to their conservation, recreational, ecological, historical, scientific, cultural, archeological, educational, or 

aesthetic qualities.

Each sanctuary and marine national monument conducts a number of field operations that support 

management, research, and education objectives. Sanctuary vessel operations include all activities 

conducted on the water from an ONMS small boat or via an ONMS-sponsored mission. These include, but 

are not limited to, research, education, outreach, marine or cultural resource and habitat assessments, 

restoration activities, marine mammal disentanglement, and law enforcement. All ONMS vessels must 

comply with the operational protocols and procedures in the NOAA Small Boats Policy (NAO 209-125).

Hydroacoustic operations may include the use of AUVs, ROVs, and towed gliders; bathymetric and 

seafloor habitat mapping; and remote sensing. Underwater sampling platforms such as AUVs, ROVs, and 

ocean gliders may feature acoustic sensors that can be deployed to monitor whales and their habitat, 

survey the seafloor for entanglement threats, and monitor water quality and ocean conditions (e.g., 

detecting hypoxia and ocean acidification).

ONMS vessels may be used to deploy passive acoustic monitoring equipment that is anchored to the sea

floor and may also tow or deploy drifting passive acoustic monitoring equipment. Passive acoustic devices 

are used to study biological and anthropogenic sound and behavior of marine animals. Some equipment 

and instruments, such as ROVs, hydrophones, and towed camera systems, may be tethered to the ship 

and towed behind a vessel, or are otherwise operated from a vessel. AUVs are ROVs that are usually 

launched from the ship with a pre-programmed navigation route and then recovered once the AUV track 

has been completed. All of the technologies are operated pursuant to valid permits and regulations.

Other acoustic equipment may be deployed using snorkelers or SCUBA divers, or from vessels. Towing 

missions normally occur monthly to quarterly. Equipment, such as hydrophones or other acoustic 

receivers, is often deployed within a sanctuary by anchoring it with cable ties, brackets, or clamps to 

existing infrastructure (e.g., buoys, channel markers), weights, or lengths of rebar that have been installed 

by SCUBA divers using hammers or pneumatic drills. In some cases, acoustic tags may be attached to fish 

to monitor movement and to marine mammals for tracking and research pursuant to NMFS, Endangered 
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Species Act (ESA), and Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) permits. OMAO vessels are used to deploy 

AUVs, ROVs, towed magnetometers, multibeam echo sounders, and side scan sonars in order to inventory 

resources and document new maritime heritage sites. Aircraft use lidar in nearshore areas for long-term 

monitoring and to characterize shallow-water benthic and intertidal habitats.

Diver surveys are sometimes used to supplement normal remote sensing surveys and are particularly 

helpful in shallow areas of high topographical complexity. Divers working to ground-truth remotely sensed 

information may be stationary at a single site or towed behind a boat at approximately 3 knots/hour when 

surveying larger areas of the marine environment.

Office of Response and Restoration

The Office of Response and Restoration (ORR) is a center of expertise in preparing for, evaluating, and 

responding to threats to coastal environments, including oil and chemical spills, releases from hazardous 

waste sites, and marine debris. Within ORR, the Emergency Response Division provides scientific expertise 

for responses to oil and chemical spills in U.S. marine and coastal waters. Its efforts facilitate spill 

prevention, preparedness, response, and restoration at national and local levels. The Assessment and 

Restoration Division conducts natural resource damage assessments with the objective of restoring 

natural resources injured by releases of oil and hazardous substances in marine and coastal waters. The 

Marine Debris Division (MDD) undertakes national and international efforts focused on researching, 

reducing, and preventing debris in the marine environment.

ORR hydroacoustic data collection may include the use of various devices such as ADCPs and echo 

sounders to track and map oil plumes and to characterize fish and plankton presence. ORR’s MDD funds 

marine debris research, prevention, and removal activities. Since 2006, the MDD has supported more than 

135 removal projects across the country and has removed more than 12 million pounds of debris from 

the oceans. To accomplish this, the MDD may perform and fund activities that use sensing technologies 

for the detection and subsequent removal of submerged marine debris. These technologies include: 

multibeam and side-scan sonar, side-imaging sonar, ROVs and AUVs with cameras or other sensors 

attached, diver towed video, and propeller cameras. The sonar systems typically used by the MDD-funded 

projects are commercially-available, low powered, high frequency systems, not fundamentally different 

from those used by most recreational boats and fishing vessels.

Integrated Ocean Observing System

The Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) is a national-regional partnership that provides 

observational coastal data, forecasts, and new tools to improve safety, enhance the economy, and protect 

the environment. Integrated ocean information is available in near real time, as well as retrospectively, 

and improves NOAA’s ability to understand and predict coastal storms, wave heights, and sea level 

change. The IOOS Program Office is organized into two divisions that implement policies, protocols, and 

standards to implement IOOS and oversee daily operations and coordination: (1) Operations Division 

(Ops) and (2) Regions, Budget, and Policy (RB&P). Ops coordinates the contributions of federally-owned 

observing and modeling systems and develops and integrates non-federal observing and modeling 

capacity into the system in partnership with IOOS regions. Ops serves as the system architect for data

processing, management, and communications in accordance with standards and protocols established 

by the National Ocean Council, and leads nationwide program integration for modeling development, 

undersea glider operations, high frequency radar, and animal telemetry. RB&P oversees functions such as 

management, budgeting, execution, policy, and regional and external affairs. Additionally, RB&P initiates 
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and maintains relationships to encourage participation in U.S. IOOS by federal agencies, non-federal 

groups, and industries.

Technologies deployed and observational activities under the IOOS program can be categorized as: 1) 

passive sensors and instrumentation; 2) vessels and sampling; 3) AUVs, gliders, and drifters; 4) moorings, 

marine stations, buoys, and fixed arrays; 5) high frequency radar; 6) sonar; and 7) lidar.

Marine vessels, including personal watercraft, may be used to implement, operate, and maintain aspects 

of the IOOS program. Activities may range in size and involve small vessels to larger research vessels. 

Sampling may be performed from aboard a vessel or on-land along shorelines and can include activities 

such as conductivity, temperature, and depth surveys; beach monitoring; bathymetric surveys; 

monitoring of algae, zooplankton, and ocean conditions; invertebrate and fish sampling; and monitoring 

of fixed arrays.

Office of National Geodetic Survey

The National Geodetic Survey (NGS) has, for more than 200 years, provided the nation with geodetic and 

geographic positioning services. NGS provides a common reference framework, the National Spatial 

Reference System (NSRS), for establishing the coordinate positions of all geographic and geospatial data. 

The foundational elements – latitude, longitude, elevation, shoreline information, and their changes over 

time – contribute to informed decision making and impact a wide range of important activities including 

mapping and charting, navigation, flood risk determination, transportation, land use, and ecosystem 

management.

NGS delineates the shoreline through various photogrammetric sources, including tide-coordinated 

stereo aerial photographs, commercial satellite imagery, Light Detection and Ranging (lidar), and related 

remote sensing technologies. The data-gathering process results in a vector database of the national 

shoreline and products such as high-resolution aerial frame photographs, orthoimagery, and coastal lidar 

data sets.

processing, management, and communications in accordance with standards and protocols established 

by the National Ocean Council, and leads nationwide program integration for modeling development, 

undersea glider operations, high frequency radar, and animal telemetry. RB&P oversees functions such as 

management, budgeting, execution, policy, and regional and external affairs. Additionally, RB&P initiates 

and maintains relationships to encourage participation in U.S. IOOS by federal agencies, non-federal 

groups, and industries.