The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration granted $943,358 to the Prince William Sound Science Center to fund research of Pacific Herring as a food source for Steller sea lions. NOAA is an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce.

The grant will fund the three-year Steller Sea Lion Winter Food Limitation Research Project by the PWSSC that will research the role of Pacific herring as important winter-period forage for Steller sea lions. The primary objectives of this study are to document the herring prey field available to Steller sea lions and to investigate the factors that determine the causes of intense sea lion foraging on herring.

“Funding from this NOAA grant will provide research to help bring the Steller sea lion population back to the Gulf of Alaska” said retired Navy Vice Adm. Conrad C. Lautenbacher, Ph.D., undersecretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator. “NOAA and the Bush Administration are working to improve the understanding of our environment and to strengthen local initiatives like the research conducted by the Prince William Sound Science Center”

Each year, NOAA awards approximately $900 million in grants to members of the academic, scientific and business communities to assist the agency in fulfilling its mission to study the Earth’s natural systems in order to predict environmental change, manage ocean resources, protect life and property, and provide decision makers with reliable scientific information. NOAA’s goals and programs reflect a commitment to these basic responsibilities of science and service to the nation for the past 34 years.

NOAA is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national safety through the prediction and research of weather and climate-related events and providing environmental stewardship of our nation’s coastal and marine resources. To learn more about NOAA, please visit: http://www.noaa.gov.