|
|
|
|
|
|
| CCA FLORIDA HABITAT RESTORATION PROJECTS |
| NINE STATES RECEIVE $200,000 FROM THE FISHAMERICA FOUNDATION |
| [Return to Habitat Restoration Main Page] |
Nearly $200,000 in grants have recently been awarded to nine coastal states through a community-based fisheries habitat restoration program sponsored by the American Sportfishing Association’s FishAmerica Foundation and the Department of Commerce’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Striped bass, salmon and shad are among the prized fisheries to benefit from 14 matching grants of up to $30,000 awarded to community partners in Alaska, California, Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts, Oregon, Vermont, Virginia and Washington.
"We’re supporting quite a range of fisheries restoration projects, and what’s most impressive about all of them is the can-do attitude and enthusiasm of citizens in these communities," said Mike Nussman, President and CEO of the American Sportfishing Association. "That energy from partners and volunteers makes FishAmerica investments go a long way for fish in prime habitats across the country."
|
|
 |
| Volunteers transporting oyster shells for use in construction of new, live oyster bars in Tampa Bay. |
|
|
|
More than 40 partner groups and hundreds of volunteers will contribute 15,000 hours to these efforts to improve water quality, revegetate river shorelines and coastal wetlands and improve fish migration pathways. These pro-jects are part of larger state-wide efforts to restore key watersheds and revive sportfish-eries that are important to recreation, local commerce and tourism.
This round of matching grants closes the first of three major grant cycles per year for the FishAmerica Foundation, the conservation and research projects arm of the American Sportfishing Association created nearly 20 years ago. With nearly $1 million provided annually for grass-roots conservation pro-jects in all 50 states, the Fish-America Foundation helps community partners build fish ladders, stock fish, create fishing ponds and improve habitat and fishing opportunities.
|
 |
|
|
The Tampa Chapter of the Coastal Conservation Association Florida will use nearly $11,000 to restore fisheries habitat at Ballast Point Park, a popular spot for snook, redfish, sheepshead and black drum fishing. Volunteers will remove a concrete sea wall to prevent further shoreline erosion and destruction of wetland spawning areas. They also will create an artificial reef along 200 feet of shoreline, and plant native wetland vegetation and mangroves.
In 2001, FishAmerica Foundation awarded $34,400 to CCA Florida. The donation funded an oyster bar restoration project in Tampa Bay and a series of mangrove restoration projects on Florida’s Central East Coast under the direction of the CCA Florida Orlando Chapter. Both projects have been very successful.
|
|
| FishAmerica
Foundation |
| [Return to Top] |
|
|
|
State Office: P.O. Box 568886 • Orlando, FL 32856
Phone: (407) 854-7002 • Fax: (407) 854-1766
e-mail: Marcia Dunfee |
Advocacy Office: 905 East Park Avenue • Tallahassee, FL 32301
Phone: (850) 224-3474 • Fax: (850) 224-5199
e-mail: Amy Harllee |
|
|
|
