NOAA AWARDS
MORE THAN $35 MILLION IN GRANTS TO OREGON
Tribal, State and Regional Fisheries Organizations Receive Funding
for Salmon and Groundfish Recovery and Restoration Efforts
The
U.S. Commerce Department’s
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
awarded grants totaling $35.65 million to Oregon
to provide for education, research and conservation programs concerning
Oregon’s marine and coastal resources. The awards included critical
funding of restoration and recovery programs for west coast ground fish
and salmon as well as outreach and economic assistance for affected
fisherman and their families, and research into the ocean processes
that influence the groundfish and salmon fisheries.
“The
Bush Administration and NOAA
are proud to make this investment in Oregon’s marine and coastal
environment,” said retired Navy Vice Admiral Conrad
C. Lautenbacher, Ph.D., undersecretary of commerce for oceans and
atmosphere and NOAA administrator. “These grant awards will provide
funding important programs for preserving Oregon’s marine and
coastal resources, recovering depleted west coast fisheries and restoring
critical habitat for salmon. The grants are a powerful tool that enable
our state and regional partners, tribes, universities, businesses and
private organizations to make a difference for their local communities,”
Lautenbacher said.
The
Oregon grants were awarded to the following organizations and programs:
Columbia
River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, Portland - $2.96 million for
salmon recovery and restoration of salmon habitat and watersheds
Oregon
State University, Corvalis - $2.31 million for researching the effects
of ocean variability and the physical and biological processes that
influence salmon and groundfish.
Oregon
State University, Corvalis - $1.43 million for marine mammal abundance
and behavioral surveys in the northeast Pacific.
Confederated
Tribes of Warm Springs, Warm Springs - $207,629 for chinook salmon
research and tagging programs in the Deschutes River watershed.
Pacific
States Marine Fisheries Commission, Gladstone - $3.12 million to
ensure all data from the Pacific Fisheries Data Program is accessible
to state, interstate, and federal fishery managers.
Pacific
States Marine Fisheries Commission, Gladstone - $1.25 million to
increase and improve the information base for West Coast groundfish
fisheries science by involving scientists, fishermen, the industry,
researchers and other stakeholders in collaborative research.
Pacific
States Marine Fisheries Commission, Gladstone - $1.02 million to
provide economic and sociocultural information to federal and other
regulatory agencies to help in the management of fisheries in Alaska.
Pacific
States Marine Fisheries Commission, Gladstone - $940,000 for assistance
in the development of a comprehensive supplemental Environmental Impact
Statement for the management of the Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery.
Pacific Coast Groundfish Management is a shared responsibility among
the NOAA National Marine Fisheries
Service, Pacific Fishery Management
Council, the Commission , and the Commission’s member states.
Pacific
States Marine Fisheries Commission, Gladstone – $500,000 to
continue its research to quantify the level of pinneped predation on
coho and other salmonids.
Pacific
States Marine Fisheries Commission, Gladstone – $402,359 to
develop information that aids in the conservation, enhancement and balanced
use of Pacific salmon and steelhead trout in the Columbia and Snake
River Basins and Puget Sound.
Pacific
States Marine Fisheries Commission, Gladstone – $391,505 for
the central database and processing system of the Pacific Fisheries
Information Network. The network information enables fish managers and
the industry track commercial catches by area and manage more effectively.
Pacific
States Marine Fisheries Commission, Gladstone – $250,000 for
research on near shore rockfish activities by coordinating coast wide
research plans, state and federal data collection, and the possible
development of interstate management plan.
Pacific
States Marine Fisheries Commission, Gladstone – $188,000 to
maintain the Pacific Fisheries Information Network’s coast wide
system that maintains catch, effort, economic, and biological data for
marine and shellfish harvests.
Pacific
States Marine Fisheries Commission, Gladstone – $102,601 for
the to enhance salmon habitat restoration activities by acquiring data
from agencies and organizations in California.
Oregon
Department of Fish and Wildlife, Portland - $831,579 for escapement
estimates for chinook salmon using tagging and tag recovery techniques
in the Umpqua, Nehalem, Siuslaw and Coquille rivers.
Oregon
Department of Fish and Wildlife, Portland - $414,860 to carry out
joint Washington-Oregon salmon management activities.
Oregon
Department of Fish and Wildlife, Portland - for an economic assistance
program that uses fishermen to conduct research and collect data on
selected groundfish stocks to improve the status of populations.
Pacific
Fishery Management Council, Portland - $348,700 to improve the ability
to produce National Environmental Policy Act compliant fishery management
plans.
Pacific
Fishery Management Council, Portland - $300,995 to carry out council
responsibilities under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and
Management Act.
Oregon
Watershed Enhancement Board, Salem - $17 million for salmon recovery
and water quality enhancement projects in Oregon.
State of Oregon Employment
Department, Salem - $1.2 million for outreach and economic assistance
to Oregon fishermen and their families.
Earth
Conservation Corps Northwest, Portland – $190,555 for its
Salmon Corps Program to further habitat restoration that benefits salmon
and other anadromous fish in the Pacific Northwest.