NOAA Marine Mammal Rescue Grants

NOAA Fisheries recently awarded 39 grants to participants of the Marine Mammal Stranding Network to respond to sick, injured, or stranded marine mammals and to investigate health concerns for marine mammal populations in the wild.

The John H. Prescott Marine Mammal Rescue Assistance Grant Program provided $3.45 million dollars for the 2012 grant competition and awarded additional funds ($250,000) to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation for emergency awards as needed for the stranding network.

To enhance stranding response and investigations nationally, the program distributed the grants proportionally across six regions of the country, including 19 states.

For a complete list of the award recipients, visit the 2012 Prescott Grant Program at:
 http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/health/prescott/proposals/funded/2012.htm

source: NOAA FishNews

Sea Life in Hudson Canyon

deepwater coral | credit NOAA

Scientists studying Hudson Canyon off the coast of New Jersey, one of the largest underwater canyons in the world, have found evidence of deepwater corals and crater-like depressions that may be methane gas blowouts, not seen before on the Northeastern U.S. continental margin.

Extensive burrowing by golden tilefish, a commercially valuable fish typically found in submarine canyons, was also observed.

Marine life in the Hudson Canyon is very diverse. Invertebrates include red crabs, lobsters and squids, while typical fish species encompass blackbelly rosefish, flounder, hakes, monkfish and black sea bass.

Some species live only in shallower depths on the shelf while others live deep in the canyon, which starts about 100 miles southeast of New York City on the continental shelf and runs some 300 miles into very deep water.

Comparable in size to the Grand Canyon, Hudson Canyon is the largest known ocean canyon on the U.S. East Coast and one of the largest underwater canyons in the world.

source: NOAA press release