Press Release

1. Hopkins Marine Station of Stanford University (Pacific Grove, CA).
The Gulf of Mexico is believed to be the major spawning area for Western North Atlantic bluefin tuna, but relatively little is known about tuna movements in this region or the desired conditions for spawning. This study will involve the capturing and tagging of up to 25 bluefin tuna, which will provide continuous data on oceanographic conditions and fish locations.


2. The Georgia Soil and Water Conservation Commission (Athens, GA).
To restore the natural discharge in the Flint River, the commission will use this grant to pilot a cost-sharing program for installing water-saving irrigation systems in agricultural Georgia. This pilot project will likely be a statewide model and will target watersheds containing sensitive freshwater mussels, ultimately benefiting oyster and shrimp populations in the Apalachicola Bay.


3. The Boles Independent School District (Quinlan, TX).
Boles Independent School District will expand its successful after-school program, "Kids on Texas Wetlands," for middle school children in the Houston, Dallas, and Sabine River communities. The program will provide hands-on environmental education activities for primarily inner city and urban youth and is expected to reach 10,000 students and 1,200 teachers.


4. Ocean Trust (Arlington, VA).
The Ocean Trust will use its grant to develop a community education project that will create a nursery for black mangrove trees to be replanted into the 6,000-acre Bahia Grande (Cameron County, TX). The Bahia-Grande is an estuary that has been dry since the 1930s when spoil from the Galveston Ship Channel eliminated water flow into the site.


5. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service - Lacassine National Wildlife Refuge (Lake Arthur, LA).
To create fall and winter feeding and resting areas for migrating shorebirds and waterfowl, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will flood a total of 2,000 acres on leased agricultural sites. Mud flats and harvested and idle rice fields will also be altered to create late summer and early fall habitat for migrating shorebirds and dabbling ducks.


6. Florida State University Research Foundation, Inc. (Tallahassee, FLA).
Biologists at FSU will characterize spawning habitat, abundance, movement patterns, and demographic patterns for dominant fishery species (gag, scam, and red grouper) on the eastern Gulf of Mexico shelf edge. Researchers will gather data to help locate marine reserves and revise coastal management areas to promote long-term sustainable fisheries.