NOAA 2002-R924 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Scott Smullen 10/1/02

NOAA News Releases 2002 NOAA Home Page NOAA Public Affairs

NOAA ANNOUNCES MORE THAN $20 MILLION IN GRANTS TO ALASKA The Commerce Department’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has awarded a total of $20.1 million in grants to study and preserve Alaska’s marine and fisheries resources. “The Bush Administration and NOAA are proud to make this investment into studying Alaska’s marine environment,” said retired Navy Vice Adm. Conrad C. Lautenbacher, Ph.D., undersecretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator. “The funding enables dozens of outstanding scientists and managers to work cooperatively with NOAA to better understand and alleviate the pressures put on the economies of Alaskan communities, their fisheries, and the Arctic ecosystem.” NOAA will award the Seward Associates for the Advancement of Marine Science a $4,947,000 grant as part of the Marine Mammal Data Program to improve the Steller sea lion data and information that is available to federal resource managers. The University of Alaska’s Cooperative Institute for Arctic Research (CIFAR) will receive $3.58 million to support the program’s core projects of fisheries oceanography, hydrographic studies and sea ice dynamics, atmospheric research, climate dynamics and variability, tsunami research and prediction, and environmental assessment, monitoring, and numerical modeling. CIFAR is one of NOAA’s 11 joint and cooperative institutes that combine a university’s research resources with those of the agency. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game will receive six grants totaling $8.59 million. ADFG will be awarded $3,835,600 for continued research and management activities required in meeting national commitments under the Pacific Salmon Treaty. Another $976,000 grant will provide technical support necessary to manage the complex Yukon Rover salmon fisheries in the context of U.S./Canada negotiation commitments. ADFG’s Marine Mammal Data Program will receive $2.4 million to evaluate nutritional stress on the endangered western stock of stellar sea lions by comparing health, growth, and body condition of juvenile animals in both the depleted western stock and the thriving eastern stock of stellar sea lions in southeast Alaska. In addition, ADFG’s Pacific Fisheries Data Program will receive $976,000 to provide fishery managers the information needed to manage the Bering Sea crab stocks towards optimum yield and $134,642 to support the implementation of the American Fisheries Act. NOAA will also grant the Alaska Department of Fish and Game $271,492 as part of the Pacific Salmon Treaty Program to estimate the smolt production and harvest of Chilkat River chinook salmon using coded wire tagging and recovery techniques, mark and recapture adult chinook returning to the Chickamin River to determine escapement, and to estimate the number of chinook released in the Southeast Alaska troll fishery by placing observers on troll vessels. The North Pacific Fishery Management Council will receive a $1.67 million grant to address the management of its fisheries relative to Steller sea lion protections. In addition, NOAA will award a $1.02 million grant to help the Council bring all fishery management plans into National Environmental Policy Act compliance by the end of 2004. This will include an independent review of the Biological Opinion, short term scientific advice, and outside socio-economic consulting for the Environmental Impact Statement. The Council will also receive a $189,475 supplemental grant for administrative costs. NOAA will award a $146,500 grant to the Bering Sea Fishermen’s Association for completion of the Community Development Quota (CDQ) Database. The database is a unique fishery management system that helps federal and state managers evaluate changes the CDQ program has made in participating communities. NOAA will award over $800 million in grants during 2002 to members of the academic, scientific, and business communities to assist the agency fulfill its mission which is 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. Our goals and programs reflect a commitment to these basic responsibilities of science and service to the nation for 32 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 and its grants programs, please visit http://www.noaa.gov.