URI team receives $227K for fisheries research

SOUTH KINGSTOWN – A University of Rhode Island research team has received $227,850 in National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration funding to examine the effects of climate change on Atlantic fisheries.

“Fishermen whose families have made a living on Narragansett Bay and the Atlantic Ocean for generations have told me ‘Sheldon, it’s getting weird out there.’ Climate change is disturbing their fisheries in ways we’re just beginning to understand. We have to learn what’s going on to better prepare for changes that are taking place,” U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse said in a statement.

“I’m glad this federal funding will go to a team led by one of the best oceanographic institutions in the world,” Whitehouse said.

Jeremy Collie, a researcher at the URI Graduate School of Oceanography, will lead the team, which includes scientists from NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center, Narragansett Laboratory at URI’s Bay Campus.

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“Narragansett Bay and the Atlantic are important drivers for our economy, and we need the best information possible to understand how climate change is affecting these waterways and our local fisheries,” U.S. Sen. Jack F. Reed said.

The URI team is one of seven to win a portion of $5 million in NOAA grants that have been designated for research to increase understanding of climate-related effects on fish stocks and fisheries.

U.S. commercial and recreational marine fisheries contributed $195 billion in sales and supported 1.7 million American jobs in 2013, according to a news release from Reed’s office.

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