HARBOR BRANCH - OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE

Protect Florida Whales Specialty License Plate Sweepstakes Grand Prize Award

PRESS RELEASE
Distributed May 10, 2006
Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution

SEBRING -- On Friday, the Protect Florida Whales specialty license plate program, administered by Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution in Ft. Pierce, is awarding the grand prize in its "Whale Tail" Sweepstakes. The winner, a resident of Lake Placid, Fla., will receive a Bombardier GTX Sea Doo personal watercraft during a brief ceremony at the Highlands County Tax Collector's office in Sebring.

World-renowned "artist of the sea" Wyland designed the "Protect Florida Whales" license plate as well as artwork on the Sea Doo prize donated by Bombardier Recreational Products, which manufacturers the popular line of personal watercraft. Whale plate proceeds are used to support a variety of research and rescue programs at Harbor Branch and other institutions aimed at better understanding and protection of the dozen or so whale species that frequent Florida waters. The "Whale Tail" Sweepstakes was created to promote sales of the Protect Florida Whales Plate, but registration was available to all at the plate's website, www.protectfloridawhales.org.

Recent work supported by plate proceeds has included a study of a recent stranding of melon-headed whales in St. Lucie County in April. The Protect Florida Whales program also awarded a grant in April to the Palm Bay-based Marine Resources Council to continue vital work to monitor and protect North Atlantic right whales, the most severely endangered great whales on the planet. Only about 350 North Atlantic right whales remain in the world, and the waters off Florida and South Georgia are their only known calving and nursery grounds. Ten percent of plate proceeds also go to the Wyland Foundation to support education programs that promote marine mammal and ocean conservation.

The Protect Florida Whales specialty license plate is available at all Florida county tax collector offices. For more information about the program, or for information about how to purchase or renew your plate online, please visit www.protectfloridawhales.org.

Reporters are welcome to attend the awards ceremony at the Highlands County Tax Collector's Office at noon on Friday, May 12, 2006. For more information, please contact Mark Schrope at 772-216-0390 or schrope@hboi.edu.

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.