The U.S. Coral Reef Task Force, a union of the U.S. Department of the Interior, NOAA, and other coastal states and island territories, announced a new, national action plan designed to preserve coral reefs in U.S. waters. The plan calls for surveys and maps of all U.S. coral reefs, an extensive monitoring system, and funding for conservation by island states and territories.

Coral reefs are in a state of rapid decline worldwide. If current trends in pollution, overfishing, and dredging continue, 70 percent of the world?s reefs may be gone by 2050. Coral reefs are in part responsible for millions of jobs and billions of dollars in tourism and commercial and recreational fishing. Reef-dwelling organisms also have promise as the source of potential cures for a wide range of ailments.

The plan designates 20 percent of all U.S. coral reefs as "no?take" ecological reserves by 2010. By 2009, the plan will map existing reefs, and a monitoring system to track the health of the nation?s coral reefs will also be implemented. Presently only five percent of U.S. coral reefs have been mapped.

Conservation organizations welcomed the coral reef plan in a letter drafted by the Center for Marine Conservation and signed by representatives from the Sierra Club, Natural Resources Defense Council, Ocean Watch and others. The letter also asked that "the American public, the Administration, and Congress"...build on the leadership demonstrated in drafting this plan throughout the difficult task of implementing its noteworthy vision." The organizations urged Congress to appropriate adequate funding beginning this year so that the plan can be carried out properly. "Coral reefs cannot be saved by plans alone," it said.