MAY 15, 2023 — From May 2-4, OR&R’s Assessment & Restoration Division (ARD), in partnership with NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science’s (NCCOS) Ecotoxicology Branch, held its Field Assessment and Support Techniques (FAST) training at and around the Hollings Marine Laboratory in Charleston, South Carolina.

The goal of the week was to improve the division’s field readiness and develop capacity with new tools and techniques that will strengthen NOAA’s Natural Resource Damage Assessments (NRDA).  During the first day of training, ARD staff, who conduct field assessments to quantify injury to NOAA trust resources from oil and hazardous materials, were introduced to the latest research and capabilities available at the Hollings Marine Laboratory. During the remaining two days, ARD and NCCOS staff along with academic partners shared assessment techniques that included in situ exposure and toxicity assessment in habitats ranging from open water to nearshore, introduction to new water column sensors, and methods for sampling sediment porewater.  In addition, data management considerations, a critical component to NRDA, were identified for all methodologies.  This training was highly successful in generating new ideas, setting priorities for both OR&R and NCCOS, and developing collaborative relationships for future work.