Billy Causey is the Southeast Regional Director for the National Marine Sanctuary Program of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Billy managed National Marine Sanctuaries in the Florida Keys since 1983, when he became the Manager of the Looe Key National Marine Sanctuary. As the manager of this marine protected area he developed the education, science and enforcement programs and sustained an interagency partnership between the state and federal governments. He served as the Superintendent of the 2900 square nautical mile Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary from August 1991 to September 2, 2006, when he assumed his current position. Billy has been the lead National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) official in the development of the management plan for the Keys Sanctuary, including development of this nation’s first comprehensive marine zoning plan. He led efforts to establish the largest network of fully protected areas in the continental US.

In the interview below from the Yale Forum on Climate Change, Billy discusses the impacts of climate change on reefs in the Fl Keys and elsewhere.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifX2nCU625E&w=560&h=340]

Also see the article in the Yale Forum on the new US Federal research program (or at least plans for one) on ocean acidification, by Mark Schrope, a freelance science writer who frequently covers coral reefs, global change and related environmental issues.  Mark also wrote another recent article for the Yale Forum on reefs here.