The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration awarded a $600,000 grant to the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council for sea turtle research and conservation in the Western Pacific region. NOAA is an agency of the U.S. Commerce Department.

The grant will support the recruitment of a turtle conservation coordinator; management of turtle nesting beaches and critical habitats; cooperative research and management; studies on turtle conservation actions related to National Environmental Policy Act; the third annual International Fisher’s Forum; and the 24th annual Turtle Symposium in Costa Rica.

“This grant to the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council allows NOAA to enhance the research and conservation efforts of protected sea turtles,” said retired Navy Vice Adm. Conrad C. Lautenbacher, Ph.D., undersecretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator. “NOAA and the Bush Administration are committed to working with regional partners to improve our understanding of our Pacific marine resources.”

The Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council is the policy-making organization for the management of fisheries in the exclusive economic zone (generally 3 to 200 miles offshore) around the Territory of American Samoa, Territory of Guam, State of Hawaii, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and U.S. Pacific island possessions, an area of nearly 1.5 million square miles. The council is one of eight regional councils in the United States, which were established under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act of 1976. The main task of the council is to protect fishery resources while maintaining opportunities for domestic fishing at sustainable levels of effort and yield.

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 over 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.

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