NOAA has awarded more than USD 3.8 million (EUR 3.3 million) in grant funding to 41 recipients across 19 states and two Tribes working with marine mammal rescue efforts.
The grants are funded through the John H. Prescott Marine Mammal Rescue and Assistance Grant Program, which was founded in 2000 and, to date, has provided more than USD 83.2 million (EUR 72.7 million) in funding, according to a release by NOAA. Grant recipients have responded to more than 100,000 stranded marine mammals among the network's 120 professional response organizations.
This year’s recipients are member organizations from the Marine Mammal Stranding Response Network and the National Marine Mammal Entanglement Response Network, specializing in marine mammal health, according to a release.
Grant recipients were broken down regionally.
Organizations in Alaska were granted two awards worth a total of USD 170,568 (EUR 149,079), with recipients including the Aleut Community of St. Paul Island and the University of Alaska Anchorage.
The largest number of grants were given to the Greater Atlantic region, where 12 organizations received grant awards totaling USD 980,482 (EUR 856,960).
In New England, grants were awarded to the Sea Research Foundation at the Mystic Aquarium in Connecticut; the Marine Mammal Alliance Nantucket, the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head, and the Whale and Dolphin Conservation in Massachusetts; the College of the Atlantic and Marine Mammals in Maine; and the Seacoast Science Center in New Hampshire.
In the Mid-Atlantic, grant funding will go to the Marine Education, Research, and Rehabilitation Institute in Delaware; the National Aquarium in Maryland; the Marine Mammal Stranding Center in New Jersey; and the Atlantic Marine Conservation Society and the Riverhead Foundation for Marine Research in New York.
In the Southeast, nine awards were given, totaling USD 714,149 (EUR 624,180). Recipients included the Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute, Clearwater Marine Aquarium, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, and the Mote Marine Laboratory in Florida; the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources and the University of North Carolina at Wilmington in North Carolina; and the Lowcountry Marine Mammal Network in South Carolina.
The Pacific Islands Region also received two awards for a total of USD 198,839 (EUR 173,789), which will go toward the Marine Mammal Center and the University of Hawaii.
The West Coast region received 11 awards, totaling USD 1,079,105 (EUR 943,159). Recipients include Oregon State University and Portland State University in Oregon; the Cascadia Research Collective, The Whale Museum, and the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife in Washington; and Cal Poly Humboldt Sponsored Programs Foundation, California Academy of Sciences, Channel Islands Marine and Wildlife Institute, Ocean Animal Response and Research Alliance, and the University of California Santa Cruz in California.
The Marine Mammal Stranding Network of Texas also received an award.
Eight national awards were given for projects meeting national research and service needs like diagnostics and tagging for a total of USD 669,538 (EUR 585,176). Those grants were given to Alabama, California, Florida, Hawaii, Massachusetts, and New York.
“These grants support a core mission of NOAA Fisheries – the conservation and recovery of protected marine species,” NOAA said in a release. “This competitive funding improves marine mammal stranding response and investigation capabilities nationwide and supports the goals of the Marine Mammal Health and Stranding Response Program.”
