RESEARCHERS TO RECEIVE FUNDS FROM WILD DOLPHINS LICENSE PLATE FORT PIERCE, FL., JULY 14, 2000 - Thanks to Florida taxpayers the wild dolphins that live off the Florida coast and the researchers who study them will soon start to benefit from the first year of sales of the State of Florida's Protect Wild Dolphins license plate. To help promote the continued sales of the plate and other Marine Life license plates, including the Manatee and Sea Turtle tags, the Sarasota County Tax Collector's Office, 101 S. Washington Blvd., will hold a news conference at 9am, Friday, July 21st. More than $388,000 has been raised during the first year of sales of the Protect Wild Dolphins license plate, and researchers have already started applying for grants of up to $25,000 each to study the wild dolphins that live off the Florida coast. Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution, Inc., in Fort Pierce is charged with distributing the funds collected from the sale of the PWD license plates. On display will be the new Marine Mammal/Wild Dolphin "Ambulance", designed and used by the Harbor Branch Dolphin Research Program. Harbor Branch researchers will be available to discuss increased sales of the Protect Wild Dolphins license plate, expected revenues, and how the funds will be used in the future. Mote Marine Laboratory is involved with one of the longest-running dolphin research programs in the world, and will also have experts on hand to talk about the benefits of wild dolphin and marine life research. Mote Marine Laboratory receives funds from the sale of the manatee license plate and hopes to receive proceeds from the sale of the PWD plate in the future. Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution, Inc. is one of the world's leading nonprofit oceanographic research organizations dedicated to the exploration of the earth's oceans, estuaries and coastal regions for the benefit of mankind.