NOAA Awards More Than $1.5 Million To ADF&G To Monitor Groundfish

NOAA awarded a grant totaling $1,550,000 to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game to fund their Groundfish Monitoring Project. NOAA is an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce.

The grant continues the cooperative management of the fisheries overseen by the Alaska Groundfish Monitoring project associated with the crab, scallop and rockfish fisheries in federal waters. The grant will support more than sixteen projects concentrating on research, administrative support and fishery management activities.

“This grant will finance research vital to advancing fisheries management knowledge in Alaska critical to the economic vitality of many communities,” 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 initiatives, such as those administered by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.”

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.