{"id":778,"date":"2010-04-16T09:53:53","date_gmt":"2010-04-16T16:53:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/breakingwaves\/?p=778"},"modified":"2010-04-16T11:11:19","modified_gmt":"2010-04-16T18:11:19","slug":"778","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/breakingwaves\/2010\/04\/16\/778\/","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Earth<\/a>For Earth Day 2010, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is highlighting the\u00a0 implementation of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.<\/p>\n

NOAA provided $167 million in Recovery Act funding to 50 high-quality, high-priority coastal restoration projects around the country. The efforts are helping to jump-start the nation\u2019s economy by supporting thousands of jobs as well as restoring fish and wildlife habitat.<\/p>\n

In Oregon, the Act is providing $699,000 to the Fishing Industry Restoration Partnership, a project which has recruited commercial fishermen to begin retrieving an estimated 180 metric tons of\u00a0 lost and abandoned crab\u00a0 pots and other fishing gear off the central coast. The gear damages marine habitats and fouls fishing lines; its retrieval not only cleans up the seafloor ecosystem, but it also provides work for fishermen and their boats.<\/p>\n

The NOAA grant resulted, in part, from a successful 2006-07 \u00a0 pilot project organized by the Oregon
\nFishermen\u2019s Cable Committee with funding and technical support from Oregon Sea Grant.<\/p>\n