BATON ROUGE, La. (July 8, 2019) – National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries has announced the selection of the Institute to participate in a five-year partnership under the Damage Assessment, Remediation and Restoration Program (DARRP).
“The Institute has been supporting the Louisiana Trustee Implementation Group (LA TIG) in their restoration work and this is an exciting opportunity to continue that effort as well as strengthen our partnership with NOAA,” said Alyssa Dausman, Institute’s vice president for science.
This five-year agreement means that as scientific needs or support arises within NOAA as it addresses oil or hazardous waste spills in the southeast United States, NOAA can call on the Institute to perform specific tasks.
Initially, the recommendation for the Institute includes $140,000 for two projects designed to better understand dolphin populations in Barataria Bay and to synthesize a state of knowledge about freshwater impacts on dolphin health.
“This is just the beginning of the work we hope to accomplish in cooperation with our partners at all levels of government and the private sector,” Dausman said.
As stated by NOAA, “These projects will benefit coastal communities by enhancing fisheries and wildlife, and restoring protected species and sensitive habitats. Habitat restoration provides economic benefits from recreation, tourism, job creation, coastal resiliency, increased property values and improved quality of life.”
"This partnership allows the Institute to facilitate coastal science that has real application to Gulf Coast recovery and restoration efforts," said Tim Carruthers, Institute’s director of coastal ecology. “Working with our partners in this important work will not only help the ecosystem’s recovery, but will also provide benefits to communities and the economy.”