For Immediate Release
Johanna Laderman, executive director, FishAmerica Foundation,
jladerman@asafishing.org, 703-519-9691, x245,
www.fishamerica.org
FishAmerica Announces Funding Available for Habitat Restoration
$280,000 already awarded through NOAA partnership in 2009
Alexandria, VA – May 7, 2009 – The FishAmerica Foundation, the conservation and research foundation of the American Sportfishing Association, today announced that grant monies for marine and anadromous sportfish habitat restoration are available for projects in the coastal United States, the Great Lakes region and the U.S. Caribbean territories. These grants will be awarded to community-based, on-the-ground projects to restore marine, estuarine and riparian habitats, including salt marshes, mangrove forests and freshwater habitats important to anadromous fish species such as salmon and striped bass that spawn in freshwater and migrate to the sea. Projects in the Great Lakes must restore habitat for diadromous sportfish such as lake sturgeon, walleye and brook trout in the Great Lakes and applicable tributaries.
The FishAmerica Foundation will accept grant proposals up through June 22, 2009. Grants of up to $50,000 each will be awarded in October 2009. Eligible applicants include community-based nonprofit organizations, such as local sporting clubs and conservation associations, as well as state and local agencies. Applicants are encouraged to partner with NOAA staff in order to strengthen the development and implementation of sound restoration projects. The announcement and full grant package are available at www.fishamerica.org.
Nearly $280,000 recently awarded through NOAA partnership
In April 2009 FishAmerica and the NOAA Restoration Center announced grants awards totaling nearly $280,000 for fisheries habitat restoration projects in nine communities across seven states. Local communities have leveraged an additional $2.7 million in funds to invest nearly $3 million to restore fisheries habitat that is critical for marine and anadromous sportfish.
The projects range from wetland fisheries habitat restoration in Massachusetts to improving fish habitat along coastal Mississippi to restoring water quality and fish habitat in the Columbia River Basin of Idaho. Over the course of the projects, volunteers will spend nearly 5,000 hours restoring sportfish spawning and rearing habitat, improve water quality and improve fish passage for salmon, striped bass, bluefish, snook, tarpon, redfish, and other sportfish. For complete project information, visit www.fishamerica.org.
“These local, community-based projects will improve fishing for the nation’s 37 million coastal and Great Lakes anglers,” said Johanna Laderman, FishAmerica’s executive director. “For more than 10 years, FishAmerica has worked closely with NOAA and our partners in the sportfishing and boating industry to ensure the future of recreational fisheries in the United States.”
Since 1998, the FishAmerica Foundation and the NOAA Restoration Center have invested more than $5 million in grants in 26 states and has leveraged an additional $6.4 million in funds matched by local communities for a total of more than $12 million in restored fisheries habitat that is critical for marine and anadromous sportfish.
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The FishAmerica Foundation, the conservation and research foundation of the American Sportfishing Association, is dedicated to keeping our fish and waters healthy. FishAmerica unites the sportfishing industry with conservation groups, government agencies, fishing tournaments, corporations and charitable foundations, investing in fisheries conservation and research across the country. FishAmerica’s matching grants empower citizen conservationists in their own communities. For more than 25 years, FishAmerica has invested more than $10 million in 1,000 fisheries conservation and research projects nationwide.
