NOAA Awards More Than $600,000 To The Mote Marine Laboratory For Oceanic Research

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration granted $609,000 to the Mote Marine Laboratory to fund the Science Consortium for Ocean Replenishment and Enhancement. NOAA is an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce.

SCORE is a partnership to develop and test the full potential of marine stock enhancement as a solution to the current weakened status of U.S. coastal fisheries. SCORE is designing and coordinating integrated research programs and field trials needed to develop and test enhancement potential in a variety of coastal habitats. The program provides a critical, science-based forum for the conduct and evaluation of individual fisheries enhancement practices. SCORE scientists are documenting the progress being made on sustainable fisheries production using experimental fish releases and by testing the validity of the stock enhancement concept.

“Funding from this NOAA grant will help bring native fish species back to their habitats in numbers suitable for sustainable fishing,” said retired Navy Vice Adm. Conrad C. Lautenbacher, Ph.D., under secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator. “NOAA and the Bush Administration are working to improve the understanding of our environment and to strengthen local and regional fishery initiatives like the Mote Marine Laboratory.”

Each year, NOAA awards approximately $900 million in grants to members of the academic, scientific and business communities to assist the agency in fulfilling its mission to study the Earth’s natural systems in order to predict environmental change, manage ocean resources, protect life and property, and provide decision makers with reliable scientific information. NOAA’s goals and programs reflect a commitment to these basic responsibilities of science and service to the nation for the past 34 years.

NOAA is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national safety through the prediction and research of weather and climate-related events and providing environmental stewardship of our nation’s coastal and marine resources. To learn more about NOAA, please visit http://www.noaa.gov.