United States
                  Environmental Protection
                  Agency
                                             Office of Research and
                                             Development
                                             Washington DC 20460
EPA/620/R-00/005m
     August, 2000
                  Coastal  Communications
                      NATIONAL COASTAL REPORT CARD
                COASTAL 2000 - PUERTO RICO ASSESSMENT
                             OR&/REGION 2/OW/PR&NR
                                                                        1^2000.
                                                    Puerto Rico
                                             200 Estuarine Sampling Design
Background
The U.S. EPA's National Coastal Report Card (also
known as Coastal 2000) includes a multi-year
partnership among EPA's Office of Research and
Development, EPA Region 2, EPA's Office of
Water and the Puerto Rico Department of Natural
Resources (PRDNR). This joint effort will
evaluate the condition of coastal resources in
Puerto Rico as part of a region wide assessment
for EPA Region 2.  This effort is being
coordinated by the National Health and
Environmental Effects Research Laboratory's Gulf
Ecology Division in Gulf Breeze, Florida.
Coastal 2000 Strategy
The Region 2 strategy for Coastal 2000 focuses on a strategic partnership with all coastal states
and Puerto Rico within EPA Region 2.  Using a compatible, probabilistic design and a common set of
survey indicators, each state will conduct the survey and assess the condition of their coastal
resources independently, yet, these estimates can be aggregated to assess conditions at the EPA
Regional, biogeographical, and National levels. The map illustrated here shows the 50 sites
included in the Puerto Rico 2000 survey.
Water Quality
Dissolved oxygen
Salinity, temperature, depth
pH
Nutrients
Chlorophyll
Sediment Quality
Grain size
Total organic carbon
Sediment chemistry
Benthic community
structure
Biotic Condition
Community structure (benthos and fish)
External fish pathology
Whole fish
Tissue analyses
Further Information
For further information, please contact Darvene Adams at the Environmental Services Division in
Region 2 at (732) 321-6700 or adams.darvene@epa.gov or Kevin Summers at the National Health
and Environmental Effects Laboratory's Gulf Ecology Division at (850) 934-9244 or
summers.kevin@epa.gov. General information on the U.S. EPA EMAP is available at
http://www.epa.gov/emap.

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