File photo
U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine 1st District
October 8, 2020
GMRI awarded $1.27M to help Maine fisheries overcome climate challenges
File photo courtesy / Gulf of Maine Research Institute
The Gulf of Maine Research Institute, headquartered on Portland's waterfront ...
By Staff
The Gulf of Maine Research Institute has been awarded $1.27 million in federal funding to help Maine fisheries and coastal communities in the fight against climate change.
Funding for the Portland-based nonprofit comes from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Climate Program Office. The new project is one of 79 to receive a total of $48.7 million in competitive awards, announced on Oct. 6.
“Every day, communities and businesses grapple with challenges due to climate variability and change,” said Wayne Higgins, director of the Climate Program Office, in a news release.
"From using machine learning to develop critical atmospheric datasets to creating an experimental system for rapidly assessing causes of extreme events, these new awards will expedite climate science discoveries and build the library of resilience solutions needed to protect all sectors of our economy and environment."
Over the next one to four years, universities, other research institutions and agency partners nationwide will conduct the projects in close partnership with NOAA laboratories and centers.
The Gulf of Maine project will explore the development of an integrated framework to inform fisheries management decisions in the Northeast, and integrate climate, economic, ocean and ecosystem modeling to explore future scenarios for key fishing stocks and species that have demonstrated shifts in distribution and changes in productivity.
"Climate change poses immense challenges for our fishing industries, which are the backbones for our coastal communities in Maine," said U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine 1st District, in a separate announcement. She is seeking reelection Nov. 3, facing Republican challenger Jay Allen.
Pingree added that as a member of the House Appropriations Committee, she will continue to prioritize funding for NOAA to continue its groundbreaking research on the effects of the climate crisis on the Gulf of Maine.
"With the help of NOAA," she added, "GMRI will be able to provide meaningful resilience for our coastal communities and help to mitigate the worst effects of the climate crisis on our marine economy."
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