August 3, 2010

NOAA has awarded $543,336 for two competitive grants to better understand and manage outbreaks of Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) that threaten public health and fisheries in Puget Sound. The grants cover the first year of multi-year projects, anticipated to cost almost $1.5 million over the next three years.

NOAA has awarded New York-based Stony Brook University $285,895 as part of an anticipated three-year, nearly $500,000 project to determine how different kinds of phosphorous, a nutrient required by all plants for growth, trigger toxic blooms of blue-green algae in the Great Lakes.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke and U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar formalized an agreement between the two departments to coordinate and cooperate on climate related activities involving science, services, mitigation, adaptation, education and communication.

NOAA today decommissioned the research vessel NOAA Ship David Starr Jordan during a ceremony in Seattle. The 171-ft. ship conducted oceanographic, marine mammal and fisheries research in the Pacific for more than 40 years.

The numbers of top-level predators in Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, such as halibut and swordfish, decreased significantly from population levels 100 years ago, according to a new NOAA report released today by the Office of National Marine Sanctuaries.

National Marine Sanctuaries have helped facilitate ecosystem-based management practices in U.S. waters by developing tools that balance marine conservation goals while minimizing conflicts between diverse marine interests, according to a new NOAA report.

NOAA’s National Enforcement Summit will bring together tomorrow more than 60 stakeholders from the commercial and recreational fishing industries, non-governmental organizations, and state and federal enforcement officials to focus on how NOAA can better manage marine resources through consistent and transparent enforcement of natural resource laws.