NOAA 94R- 163
Contact: Scott Smullen FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE(301) 713-2370 10/3/94
NEW FISHERIES LAB FOR SANTA CRUZ, CALIF.
AND $2 MILLION PROGRAM FOR NEWPORT, ORE., MARINE SCIENCE CENTER
Deputy Secretary of Commerce David J. Barram today announced that the Department's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will move its federal fisheries laboratory from Tiburon, Calif., to Santa Cruz, and will allocate $2 million for an expansion of federal fisheries research at the Marine Science Center in Newport, Ore. Barram made the announcement at the second anniversary celebration of Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. Barram was joined in the celebration ceremony by Rep. Sam Farr and other dignitaries.
NOAA will spend $1.5 million for the planning and design of a new NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service laboratory to be co- located with the Long Marine Laboratory at the University of California at Santa Cruz. NMFS scientists currently conduct research on Pacific coast groundfish and salmon stocks in a pre- World War II facility in Tiburon that has become increasingly expensive to maintain and repair.
"Moving the agency's research activities and staff to Santa Cruz will provide an important and integral part in a center of marine science excellence there," Barram said. "We believe that collaborative efforts between the federal laboratory and the Long Marine Laboratory could lead to expanded research activities in the Monterey Bay area and the Pacific coast."
The laboratory relocation follows a research group's finding that moving the Tiburon laboratory would cost taxpayers less than renovating the late 1930's facility and maintaining operations there.
When complete, the Santa Cruz facility will have a staff of more than two dozen biologists and other scientists. Officials expect the facility to be completed in 1997 at an anticipated cost of nearly $15 million.
The expanded operation at the Marine Science Center in Newport will focus on the study and management of Pacific coast groundfish. The program will be developed and implemented by the NMFS Northwest Science Center to provide additional support to the Pacific Fishery Management Council.
The Tiburon laboratory staff conduct studies of environmental factors that affect the health, growth and reproduction of Pacific coast groundfish stocks and Klamath and Sacramento river salmon, and perform stock assessments of these fisheries to help manage West Coast fishery resources.