Comment from Revive & Restore

See attached file for full comment. Revive & Restore is a nonprofit conservation biotechnology organization dedicated to advancing genetic rescue tools and technologies to prevent species extinction and restore ecosystems. We submit these comments in strong support of NOAA's intent to prepare a supplemental Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) for the Coral Reef Conservation Program, and in particular to advocate for the most ambitious possible scope of coral conservation and restoration activities under Alternative Three, and, where feasible, beyond it. The coral reef crisis is one of the most urgent and consequential ecological challenges of our time. The communities, economies, and ecosystems that depend on healthy reefs cannot afford timid or incremental responses. Revive & Restore is grateful for NOAA's leadership in revisiting and expanding the scope of the CRCP's authorized activities, and we urge the agency to use the supplemental PEIS process to establish the broadest possible mandate for scientifically rigorous, biotechnology-enabled coral conservation and restoration. The tools to save coral reefs are being developed now. The environmental review framework that governs their deployment must keep pace. We appreciate the opportunity to comment and are available to provide additional scientific context or to connect NOAA with researchers working on the technologies referenced herein.