Contact:  Eliot Hurwitz       FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
                              8/28/96

NOAA FUNDS NEW PACIFIC SALMON STUDY

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has awarded the Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development a $225,000 grant to design and coordinate a major new scientific study of declining Pacific Northwest salmon, the Commerce Department agency announced today.

The Pacific Northwest Coastal Ecosystem Regional Study, or PNCERS, will receive a projected $5 million from NOAA's Coastal Ocean Program over the next five years. The study is aimed at improving the scientific base for the restoration and management of salmon and other Pacific Northwest coastal resources. The PNCRS study will also develop ways for coastal managers to predict ecosystem, economic and social impacts of proposed restoration and management strategies.

"The PNCERS program will be the first time the scientific community has taken a look at how a wide variety of uses and influences stress the coastal habitat of Pacific salmon," said Donald Scavia, director of the Coastal Ocean Program. "Impacts of multiple stressors on resources across the entire system and their linkages will be considered. The information then will be prepared in a form usable by the general public, users of coastal resources, and coastal managers."

The study will coordinate closely with other scientific programs in the region, focusing on factors affecting the estuarine survival of salmon. Robert J. Bailey, coastal program administrator for the state of Oregon, will lead the PNCERS project management team. Other organizations participating in the study include the Oregon State University Sea Grant Program, the University of Washington Sea Grant Program, and NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service.

Funding for the first year of PNCERS will be used to synthesize existing information on the ecosystems of the Northwest, to begin coordination with studies currently underway, and to develop a research plan.

According to Scavia, "Coastal resource managers need to better understand how both people and nature have caused changes in the environment that have altered the distribution and abundance of resources, especially Pacific salmon species, and how this has resulted in dramatic social and economic consequences for local communities. We must learn more about how multiple stressors affect an ecosystem. Also, since our attempts to manage resources also affect ecosystem dynamics, we must learn to successfully predict outcomes of management practices. COP is pleased to fund this important study, because its scope and projected length and funding give promise of finding important answers to the outstanding questions surrounding salmon recovery."

The NOAA Coastal Ocean Program was formed to provide a focus within NOAA for improving scientific predictions that affect the management of coastal resources. COP funds high-quality research through a partnership approach that joins NOAA scientists with academic researchers. This research is aimed at finding management solutions that will protect coastal resources and ensure their availability now and in the future.