HARBOR BRANCH - OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE

PROTECT FLORIDA WHALES SPECIALTY LICENSE PLATE PROGRAM AWARDS MARINE RESOURCES COUNCIL $50,000 TO CONTINUE RIGHT WHALE MONITORING AND PROTECTION

Contact:
Julie Albert or Jim Egan
Marine Resources Council of East Florida
321-725-7775

PALM BAY - On Saturday, April 1, the Protect Florida Whales specialty license plate program, administered by Harbor Branch Oceanographic, awarded a $50,000 grant to the Marine Resources Council (MRC) in Palm Bay. The funds will support work by the organization in conjunction with Associated Scientists at Woods Hole (ASWH), in Massachusetts, and Marineland, just south of St. Augustine for monitoring, studying, and protecting severely endangered North Atlantic right whales. Proceeds from the license plate program also support efforts to study and rescue other whale species that inhabit Florida waters, such as the melon-headed whales that recently stranded in Martin County.

Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution, which administers the Protect Florida Whales specialty license plate program, awarded the grant at an 11:30 a.m. ceremony at the Lagoon House in Palm Bay, where MRC's office is located.

A panel of specialists from outside Harbor Branch determines recipients of whale plate grants. The new funding will support continued efforts of MRC to coordinate local volunteers who monitor right whales. The grant will also support efforts to photograph, identify, and track the whales to better understand their movements and habits in hopes of ultimately preventing their extinction.

Due in large part to a Protect Florida Whales grant for 2005, MRC, ASWH and associated volunteers and researchers made 78 confirmed right whale sightings on Florida's East coast and obtained ID-quality photographs at 50 of those sightings, of which were of whales not documented by any other agency. On at least two occasions, the group documented new whale calves.

Only about 350 North Atlantic right whales remain in the world. The waters off Florida and South Georgia are their only known calving and nursery grounds. Because the whales are difficult to spot from ships, MRC has developed a network of 800 volunteers who report sightings of right whales to the group's hotline at 1-888-97-WHALE. In addition, coastal volunteers keep scheduled vigils on Florida beaches to track the whales' progress as they migrate. Woods Hole researchers also follow right whale migration and conduct aerial surveys using an ultralight aircraft . Once spotted, the exact location of a right whale is relayed within minutes to a network of researchers, ports, shipping lines, and navy vessels so that collisions can be averted. For more information about the program, please visit http://www.mrcirl.org/whale/whale.html

The right whale monitoring program is accomplished in conjunction with the New England Aquarium, the states of Georgia and Florida, NOAA Fisheries, the Navy, the Coast Guard, and Florida and Georgia Port Authorities. Partial funding for the work comes from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, Disney, Port Canaveralthe Einstein Fund, and the Army Corps. of Engineers. .

The "Protect Florida Whales" license plate was designed by world-renowned "artist of the sea" Wyland and is available at local County Tax Collector offices statewide. Whale plate proceeds are used to support various programs, including whale research and rescue efforts at Harbor Branch, including work to understand the recent whale stranding on South Hutchinson Island, which involved melon-headed whales, a deepwater species involved in only a few known stranding events. Ten percent of plate proceeds go to the Wyland Foundation to support education programs that promote marine mammal and ocean conservation.

Reporters are invited to attend an informal gathering of MRC leaders and volunteers on Saturday, April 1, at WHAT TIME. at the Lagoon House to celebrate the award and receive a ceremonial check from Harbor Branch. The Lagoon House is located at 3275 Dixie Highway NE, Palm Bay, Fla. For more information, please contact Julie Albert at 321-725-7775. A high-res image of the whale plate is available here.

HARBOR BRANCH Oceanographic Institution was founded in Ft. Pierce, Fla., in 1971 to support the exploration and conservation of the world's oceans. The institution has held to this mission and grown into one of the world's leading oceanographic institutions with a 500-acre campus, over 200 personnel, and a fleet of sophisticated research ships and submersibles.