[Coral-List] NOAA AND NFWF AWARD $2.4 MILLION FOR CORAL REEF CONSERVATION GRANTS

Roger B Griffis Roger.B.Griffis at noaa.gov
Wed Sep 22 18:15:16 EDT 2004


ANNOUNCEMENT - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 15, 2004

NOAA AND NFWF AWARD $2.4 MILLION FOR CORAL REEF CONSERVATION GRANTS
Foundation Also Calls for 2005 Grant Applications

WASHINGTON - Sept. 13, 2004 - The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation
(NFWF) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
announced today the funding of 26 grants - with a total value of more
than $2.4 million - through the jointly managed Coral Reef Conservation
Fund. The grants will go to conservation organizations and local
governments in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, Gulf of Mexico and the
Caribbean Sea to help restore damaged coral reef ecosystems and to
prevent further negative impacts to reefs. 

Coral Fund projects assist in building public-private partnerships,
increasing community awareness and providing solutions to localized
threats to coral reefs and associated habitats. Special emphasis was
placed on projects demonstrating a hands-on, measurable approach to
reducing land-based pollution or to improving the management
effectiveness of coral reef protected areas. Of the 26 grant awards, 15
will take place in the Gulf of Mexico/Caribbean region, nine in the
North Pacific, and one each in the South Pacific and Atlantic. One
million dollars in federal funds will leverage an additional $1.4
million in matching contributions for these projects.

"Healthy coral reefs can provide food, jobs and income for millions of
people around the world, and provide billions of dollars to U.S.
communities through tourism and recreation. However, many reefs are now
being seriously degraded by overuse, pollution and other factors. These
projects will help local communities protect our valuable coral reefs
and the economies that depend on them," said retired Navy Vice Adm.
Conrad C. Lautenbacher, undersecretary of commerce and NOAA
administrator. 

"We're pleased at the opportunity to support a diverse set of projects
that address coral reef conservation on land, in the sea and across the
globe for a third year," said Foundation Executive Director John Berry.
"Continued investments in innovative and new approaches based on sound
science will help forge new tools to conserve coral reefs."	

The Coral Reef Conservation Fund was created to assist NOAA in
implementing the Coral Reef Conservation Act of 2000 and is managed by
the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation in partnership with NOAA. To
date, the Foundation has awarded more than $9 million in federal and
non-federal matching funds for 116 coral conservation projects in 20
countries, five U.S. trusts or territories, and four U.S. states.

The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation is now accepting Coral Reef
Conservation Fund proposals for 2005. A priority area for 2005 funding
is the establishment of mooring buoys as part of the new "Anchors Away!
Partnership Initiative," a project of the White Water to Blue Water
Initiative. Coral Reef Conservation Fund application directions and
forms are available online at: www.nfwf.org/programs/coralreef.htm  For
more information about the program, contact Leslie Ricketts via e-mail
at leslie.ricketts at nfwf.org.

NOAA's Coral Reef Conservation Program is a partnership between the NOAA
line offices working on coral reef issues, including the National Ocean
Service, the National Marine Fisheries Service, the Office of Oceanic
and Atmospheric Research and the National Environmental Satellite, Data
and Information Service. The program supports effective management and
sound science to preserve, sustain and restore valuable coral reef
ecosystems.

Each year NOAA, an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce, awards
approximately $900 million in grants to members of the academic,
scientific and business communities to assist the agency in fulfilling
its mission to study the Earth's natural systems in order to predict
environmental change, manage ocean resources, protect life and property,
and provide decision makers with reliable scientific information. NOAA's
goals and programs reflect a commitment to these basic responsibilities
of science and service to the nation for the past 34 years.

The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation is a nonprofit organization
established by Congress in 1984 and dedicated to the conservation of
fish, wildlife and plants, and the habitat on which they depend. The
Foundation creates partnerships between the public and private sectors
to strategically invest in conservation and the sustainable use of
natural resources. The Foundation distributed 687 grants in 2003 and has
leveraged $261 million in federal funds since its establishment, for a
total of more than $786 million in on-the-ground conservation.

2004 grant recipients:

GULF OF MEXICO/CARIBBEAN
·	Anguilla, Department of Fisheries and Marine Resources, Anguilla -
$24,000 federal funds, $49,000 matching funds
·	Belize, Toledo Association for Sustainable Tourism and Empowerment -
$15,950 federal funds, $45,900 matching funds
·	Belize, Wildlife Conservation Society - $25,000 federal funds, $50,707
matching funds
·	British Virgin Islands, The Ocean Conservancy - $35,000 federal funds,
$35,000 matching funds
·	Caribbean, Ocean Research and Education Foundation - $25,675 federal
funds, $25,675 matching funds
·	Central America and Mexico, Centro Ecológico Akumal - $60,950 federal
funds, $92,550 matching funds
·	Dominican Republic, Universidad de Costa Rica Centro de
Investigaciones en Ciencias del Mar y Limnologia - $23,840 federal
funds, $32,950 matching funds

·	Florida Keys, North Carolina State University - $53,415 federal funds,
$93,274 matching funds
·	Florida Keys, Reef Relief - $16,126 federal funds, $16,126 matching
funds
·	Jamaica, The Nature Conservancy, Jamaica Country Programme - $33,937
federal funds, $51,411 matching funds
·	Mexico, Coral Resource Management - $41,350 federal funds, $41,350
matching funds
·	Netherlands Antilles, St. Eustatius National Parks Foundation -
$50,400 federal funds, $50,400 matching funds
·	Puerto Rico, Fundacion Luis Munoz Marin - $50,000 federal funds,
$61,450 matching funds
·	U.S. Virgin Islands, The Nature Conservancy, Eastern Caribbean Program
- $42,267 federal funds, $84,742 matching funds
·	Venezuela, Universidad Simon Bolivar, Instituto de Technologia y
Ciencias Marinas - $30,000 federal funds, $30,000 matching funds
NORTH PACIFIC
·	Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands, Saipan Resource Conservation
and Development Council - $69,660 federal funds, $96,000 matching funds
·	Guam and Hawaii, Urban Arts Institute at Mass College of Art - $40,000
federal funds, $40,000 matching funds
·	Hawaii, 'Ao'ao O Na Loko l'a O Maui (Association of the Fishponds of
Maui) - $49,030 federal funds, $49,030 matching funds
·	Hawaii, Cape Kumukahi Foundation - $25,105 federal funds, $25,105
matching funds
·	Micronesia, Micronesia Conservation Trust - $40,000 federal funds,
$54,200 matching funds
·	Micronesia, RARE Center for Tropical Conservation - $75,066 federal
funds, $100,066 matching funds
·	Palau, Paulau Conservation Society - $40,000 federal funds, $80,000
matching funds
·	Philippines, Conservation International - $45,500 federal funds,
$48,400 matching funds
·	Vietnam, World Wildlife Fund Indochina, Marine Programme - $25,000
federal funds, $55,000 matching funds
SOUTH PACIFIC
·	Fiji, Wildlife Conservation Society - $27,500 federal funds, $78,500
matching funds
SOUTH ATLANTIC
·	Brazil, Ministry of the Environment, Brazil - $36,000 federal funds,
$90,600 matching funds

Contacts:
Thuy Luu-Beams, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, (202) 857-5675
Ben Sherman, NOAA, (202) 253-5256


More information about the Coral-List mailing list