The Alaska Sea Grant on Tuesday announced it will provide USD 1 million (EUR 826,200) over the next two years to support marine research.
The funding will support projects including assessing the potential impact of the growing sea otter population in Southeast Alaska, developing better pollock fishery management models and determining the genetic stock structure of red and blue king crab.
Alaska Sea Grant will also fund a host of other studies. These include a study on the abundance of plankton species that are an important food source for juvenile pink salmon in Prince William Sound and a study on whether some small salmon fisheries can be effectively managed at a lower cost by using predetermined fishing periods rather than expensive test fisheries and escapement surveys.
The funding announcement comes after a year-long project submission and review process. Alaska Sea Grant issued a request for proposals in December 2008 and received 33 pre-proposals. Of those, 16 projects were developed into full proposals and final projects were selected following a proposal-review process that included science peers on an advisory panel.
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