NOAA Awards More Than $530,000 To The Monterey Bay Aquarium Foundation To Research Bluefin Tuna

NOAA AWARDS MORE THAN $530,000 TO THE MONTEREY BAY
AQUARIUM FOUNDATION TO RESEARCH BLUEFIN TUNA

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration granted $530,939 to the Monterey Bay Aquarium Foundation to support a program that tags and tracks tuna throughout the Pacific Ocean. NOAA is an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce.

The grant will continue the deployment of tags, which have demonstrated improved understanding of the migration of Atlantic and Pacific bluefin tuna. The program uses archival and pop-up satellite tags that utilize recent progress in satellite telemetry and electronics to record environmental parameters that the fish experience such as light, pressure, diving depth and temperature.

“Monterey Bay Aquarium Foundation’s tagging program provides a major advance for understanding the distribution and behavior of tunas, and NOAA funding will help provide scientists with the information they need to make sound decisions to maintain the health of the bluefin population,” 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 as well as strengthen regional fishery research initiatives like those of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Foundation.”

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.

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