National Marine Sanctuaries Press Releases 2008

June 27, 2008-- Today, NOAA christened a new, state-of-the-art research vessel that will enhance the study and protection of Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary in the Gulf of Mexico. The 83-foot R/V Manta will operate out of Galveston, Texas, where the sanctuary is headquartered.

June 26, 2008 -- Santa Barbara and Ventura County residents and visitors can now explore Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary without getting their feet wet through new state-of-the-art touch screen NOAA kiosks located at four sites along the coast.

May 13, 2008 -- NOAA's Office of National Marine Sanctuaries announced today it is offering "Ocean Guardian" grants of up to $6,000 to a number of California schools whose students create a school or community-based conservation project that protects their local watershed and the ocean.

April 16, 2008 -- NOAA and partners have launched a comprehensive, user-friendly online resource featuring the latest scientific research conducted within three West Coast national marine sanctuaries.

April 14, 2008 -- Coral experts from the Caribbean, Central and South America, and Florida will gather at a NOAA-hosted workshop this month to share strategies for mitigating and managing the impacts of coral bleaching and climate change on reefs in the Caribbean and other regions.

April 4, 2008 -- The fragile and unique marine ecosystems of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands encompassed by the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument will receive additional protection under a new internationally recognized designation announced today by NOAA.

March 18, 2008 -- The public is invited to provide input on the creation of a special research area in NOAA’s Gray’s Reef National Marine Sanctuary during a comment period open through April 21. If established, the research area would dedicate a portion of the sanctuary’s waters to scientific investigation and exploration.

March 11, 2008 -- NOAA’s Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary has awarded the Farallones Young Marine Scientist Award to seventh-grade student Noe Manley for her entry, which compared a fish's size to its breathing rate in the 26th annual San Francisco Middle School Science Fair.

March 6, 2008 -- NOAA’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries and the U.S. Army Dive Company are joining forces this month to repair buoy moorings, remove trash from dive sites, and install listening devices to track fish in national marine sanctuaries off Florida and Georgia.

Feb. 27, 2008 -- NOAA's National Marine Sanctuary Program will use innovative Internet and satellite technology to transport students across the country to a scientific expedition in Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary.

Feb. 2, 2008 -- Scientists from NOAA's Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary have confirmed that a new species of a colorful coral reef fish species has been discovered in the Gulf of Mexico at the Flower Garden Banks, 100 miles off the coast of Texas.

Jan. 31, 2008 -- NOAA's Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary advises beachgoers against interacting with any seal pups they may find on the beach. Newborn harbor seal pups, born in late winter and spring, could suffer permanent harm if someone not licensed in marine mammal rescue were to move them.

Jan. 15, 2008 -- A former Gray’s Reef National Marine Sanctuary research ship sunk last year off the Georgia coast as an artificial reef is now home to a diverse array of marine fish and invertebrates after only four months on the bottom, according to NOAA scientists.

Jan. 14, 2008 -- NOAA's Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary and its partners today accepted the third charter operator into a new program created to help protect wild dolphins in the Keys. Key West Eco Tours officially joined the Dolphin SMART program after successfully meeting standards that promote responsible viewing of dolphins in the wild.

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