New Grants Spur More Than $5 Million in Conservation Action to Benefit the Gulf of Maine

Grants are designed to protect, restore and research coastal and marine resources

September 22, 2009

PORTLAND, Maine - The U.S. Attorney for Maine and the U.S. Coast Guard today announced 14 new grants totaling $1,913,735 to promote the health of the Gulf of Maine.

These awards are bolstered by an additional $3,396,993 million raised by recipients, bringing to $5.3 million the total contribution for new coastal and marine conservation efforts in Maine.

Funding for the grants resulted from organizational community service payments ordered as part of a criminal penalty imposed upon a shipping company for criminal violations related to deliberate vessel pollution in close proximity to the State of Maine. The prosecution of the case was made possible through the combined efforts of U.S. Coast Guard resources and the United States Attorney for Maine.

Paula Silsby, United States Attorney, District of Maine, said: "The Gulf of Maine is one of the jewels in the crown of the state's environmental resources. The conservation projects funded by these grants represent an important investment in both this great body of water and Maine as a whole. I am pleased that my office is able to support this important work to sustain the many communities along our coast."

One of the world's most biologically productive environments, the Gulf of Maine's marine waters and shoreline habitats host some 2,000 species of plants and animals. The entire population of Maine -- 1.2 million people -- lives within its watershed and millions more visit the Gulf of Maine annually. Its coastal and marine habitat provides home and food for scallops, flounder, urchins and the legendary Maine lobster, as well as migratory waterbirds. Seals, seabirds and bald eagles are found on its islands.

The new grants announced today will deliver multiple environmental and conservation benefits, including the protection of one of 87 nationally significant nesting islands for seabirds and a marsh that supports the highest diversity of water-dependent birds of all of the 53 salt marshes in Maine. The grants also will help reduce disturbance of key nesting beaches for state-endangered, federally threatened shorebirds that breed on sandy beach habitats, and provide for dam removal and installation of a fishway in the Androscoggin watershed. Another project empowered by the new grants will help educate residents, boaters and students about marine stewardship to protect water quality in Casco Bay; another will engage the lobster industry to collect thousands of derelict lobster traps in 21 ports off the Maine coast.

"Finding new ways to conserve our coasts and oceans is a high priority for the Foundation" said Mike Slattery, Director, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. "We applaud the leadership shown by the U.S. Attorney and the U.S. Coast Guard to direct critical resources to support local conservation to help restore declining numbers of birds and fish and stem loss of habitat in the Gulf of Maine."

"The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is proud to be a working partner in this funding initiative to galvanize long-term conservation and restoration of habitat in the Gulf of Maine, a place of precious wildlife resources" said Stewart Fefer, Project Leader, Gulf of Maine Program, United States Fish and Wildlife Service.

The United States Attorney is the chief federal law enforcement officer within the federal judicial district of Maine which comprises the entire state. The office represents the United States and has responsibility for: the prosecution of criminal cases brought by the Federal government; the prosecution and defense of civil cases in which the United States is a party; and the collection of debts owed the Federal government which are administratively uncollectible. For more information visit http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/me.

First Coast Guard District includes the eight state area from Maine to northern New Jersey and eastern New York. The First District covers 2,000 miles of shoreline and is home to ten of the busiest ports (by tonnage) in the country including: Boston, New York, Portland, ME, New Haven, CT, and Providence, R.I. The United States Coast Guard protects the public, our ports, the environment and U.S. economic interests through the prevention and mitigation of maritime incidents. For more information, visit www.uscg.mil.

The Gulf of Maine Environmental Compliance and Protection Fund is managed by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation on behalf of the fund's trustees. A nonprofit established by Congress in 1984, NFWF sustains, restores and enhances the nation's fish, wildlife, plants and habitats. Since its establishment, it has awarded over 10,800 grants to more than 3,700 organizations in the United States and abroad and leveraged - with its partners - more than $635 million in federal funds into more than $1.5 billion for on-the-ground conservation. For more information, visit www.nfwf.org.

Funded Projects

• Adding Compass Island to the National Wildlife Refuge, Maine Coast Heritage Trust, Award: $225,000 Match: $105,000
• Gervais Farm Conservation Project: Scarborough, Maine, Friends of Scarboroguh Marsh, Award: $65,000 Match: $755,000
• Timber Point Conservation Initiative, Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge, Award: $200,000 Match: $1,200,000
• Bunganuc Point - Maquoit Bay, Maine Coast Heritage Trust, Award: $100,000, Match: $100,000
• Restoring Piping Plover and Least Tern Populations in Maine, Maine Audubon, Award: $65,553, Match: $38,622
• Beached bird surveys: A Baseline for Oil Spills in Maine, Tufts University, Award: $50,870.75, Match $50,870.75
• Marine Education Campaign, Friends of Casco Bays, Award: $34,000.66 Match: $22,306
• Applying an Environmental Management System (EMS) to Reduce Bycatch and Improve Fishery Outcomes, Gulf of Maine Research Institute, Award: $192,576 Match: $ 145,028
• Derelict Lobster Gear Retrieval, Salvage & Disposal, Gulf of Maine Lobster Foundation, Award: $200,000 Match: $224,000
• Bycatch Survey of the Atlantic Herring Bottom Trawl Fishery, Maine Department of Marine Resources, Award: $217,470 Match: $15,916
• Veazie Dam Removal Final Engineering Design Work, Penobscot River Restoration Trust, Award: $210,000 Match: $300,000
• Sea-Run Fish Restoration in Two Maine Streams, Main Council of the Atlantic Salmon Federation, Award: $18,500 Match: $37,000
• Alewife Stock Structure in the Gulf of Maine, Gulf of Maine Research Institute, Award: $255,150 Match: $296,787
• Incentive-based Tools to Restore River Herring in Maine, Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), Award: $69,614.78 Match: $50,000