A $3 million, five-year project to expand data collection on red snapper and other reef fish stocks in the northern and eastern Gulf of Mexico is being hailed by Ocean Conservancy as a major milestone in the recovery of the marine resources. Photo: Ed Lallo/Newsroom Ink
by Kim Blair/Pensacola News Journal
A $3 million, five-year project to expand data collection on red snapper and other reef fish stocks in the northern and eastern Gulf of Mexico is being hailed by Ocean Conservancy as a major milestone in the recovery of the marine resources affected by the 2010 BP oil spill disaster.
This is a good investment of BP fine money in the sustainability of the fisheries,” said Elizabeth Fetherston, a marine restoration strategist for Ocean Conservancy based in St. Petersburg. Photo: Ocean Concervancy
The Enhanced Assessment for Recovery of Gulf of Mexico Fisheries is one of six Florida projects funded by $15.7 million of BP and Transocean money that addresses high priority conservation needs, according to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation that’s administering the money.
“This is a good investment of BP fine money in the sustainability of the fisheries,” said Elizabeth Fetherston, a marine restoration strategist for Ocean Conservancy based in St. Petersburg.
It’s the first project funded by oil spill recovery money targeting fisheries and, more importantly, for red snapper stocks that “are incredibly important to the Gulf of Mexico and Pensacola’s fishing, tourism and seafood industry,” Fetherston said.
Will Patterson, a University of South Florida marine sciences biology professor who has been studying the impacts of the oil spill on fish populations, said more detailed studies of this scope have been conducted in the western Gulf, but there’s never been a study of this caliber east of Pensacola.
“The information that’s going to be collected will be based on what fish are living here, how fast they grow, where they live and how much they eat. That’s information we’ve not had.”
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