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The purpose of this report is to provide an assessment of the current condition of coral reef ecosystems in U.S. jurisdictions, including the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Navassa, Florida, Flower Garden Banks and other banks of the Gulf of Mexico, Hawaii, the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, American Samoa, the Pacific Remote Island Areas, Guam, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI). The report also provides an examination of coral reefs in the Pacific Freely Associated States (FAS), including the Republic of the Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, and Republic of Palau. The report focuses primarily on shallow-water portions of these states and territories, from the shoreline to the maximum depth at which sunlight-dependent corals can survive. Coral communities occuring in deep and cold waters are the subject of a complementary report currently under development.

The Peoples Republic of China (PRC), Taiwan, and peoples of Chinese ancestry resident in the Pacific Islands have figured prominently in news items concerning the Pacific in recent years.2 In April 2006, post-election violence erupted in the Solomon Islands’ capital, Honiara, following the declaration of the Deputy Prime Minister of the unpopular out-going government, Snyder Rini, as the new Prime Minster. Much of Honiara’s Chinatown was burned and looted.