About half a million in funding for coral restoration projects, announced last week by the National Marine Fisheries Service, is in honor the late coral researcher Dr. Ruth Gates, according to a recent news release.
The grants are to be doled out to project proposals from non-federal partners with an eye toward, in part, advancing scientific applications that can corals respond to threats, according to the National Marine Fisheries Service news release issued Nov. 12. Those threats include ocean warming or coral disease.
The National Marine Fisheries operates under the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The late coral researcher Dr. Ruth Gates
| fisheries.noaa.gov/
The National Marine Fisheries Service also is looking for would-be grant recipients with projects that could enhance the survival of sexually derived corals and increasing the range of traits within those coral populations.
"As shallow-water, nearshore communities, coral reef ecosystems are ecologically linked to adjacent watersheds and are highly vulnerable to human activity," the news release said. "Coral reefs are rapidly declining in health due to local stressors, such as land-based sources of pollution and destructive fishing practices. They are also negatively impacted by global stressors such as frequent and severe bleaching and ocean acidification due to climate change."
The grants will be available for projects next year. Proposal deadline is Feb. 23 and Award amounts will be $100,000 to $1 million over a 1- to 3-year project period.
Gates, Director of the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology and renowned coral researcher, who used innovative science and research to coral reef decline. Gates died in 2018.
Global environmental change is outpacing the natural ability of coral to adapt to its local environment the National Marine Fisheries Service is looking for "innovative interventions" needed to improve the long-term effectiveness of larger scale coral restoration," the news release said.
These grants are part of NOAA's efforts to restore resilient coral ecosystems, and support objectives in the administration's Coral Reef Conservation Program's Strategic Plan and Action Plan on Coral Interventions.
