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<TITLE>Re: Support for coral reef studies in the US</TITLE>
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<FONT SIZE="2">Dear Coral-Listers,<BR>
As many of you in the US will have heard by now, the initial Senate committee budgets for NOAA in FY2000 contain no new funds for the coral reef-related projects that were requested by senior NOAA personnel!<BR>
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Although certain activities at the University of Hawaii and the National Coral Reef Institute in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, are apparently receiving favorable consideration, not being funded are other areas of NOAA's Lands Legacy Initiative (see http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories/s108.htm and <BR>
http://192.64.69.47/BudgetRequest2000.htm).<BR>
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Apparently Americans are failing to ensure that their collective voice is being heard with respect to these issues; perhaps folks here are just not aware of the present precarious status of many coral reefs. Anyone who is a U.S. citizen and wishes increased funding for NOAA's reef research/survey/restoration projects is urged to contact his/her respective federal legislators and briefly explain the many economic, ecological, societal, aesthetic etc., reasons for conserving reefs, both in US waters and abroad. <BR>
Judy Lang<BR>
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