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This year, the Southeast Aquatic Resources Partnership and the NOAA Office of Habitat Conservation's Restoration Center are investing more than $175,000 to restore habitat in the southeastern U.S. Through these projects, valuable fish habitat and shorelines along the South Atlantic coast will be enhanced or restored. Specifically, these projects will improve stream conditions for fish to breed and raise their young, plant native wetland and aquatic plants to provide fish nursery habitat and provide benefits to a wide variety of birds and wildlife, and establish or repair oyster reefs to reduce erosion caused by waves along the shoreline, while providing habitat for many species of fish.
These projects will encourage local communities and state agencies to work together in restoring habitat-not only benefiting fish and wildlife, but also creating a stewardship ethic for future generations. Community members participating in each of these projects reflect a growing commitment by Americans to conserve and restore the ecosystems around them.
The 2013 projects:
- Led by Cape Fear River Watch, this project will enhance fish breeding habitat on the main stem of the Cape Fear River in Bladen County, North Carolina.
- Led by the Floridan Resource Conservation & Development Council, Inc., this project will restore and enhance historical coastal estuarine saltmarsh habitat in the North Peninsula State Park in Volusia County, Florida.
- Led by the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, this project will create and protect intertidal oyster reefs and saltmarsh, essential fish habitat, in the Charleston Harbor Watershed and Cape Romain Wildlife Refuge in Charleston County, South Carolina.
NOAA and SARP have teamed together to promote, facilitate, and implement cooperative habitat conservation and restoration in the Southeast. The projects will also help achieve the goals of the National Fish Habitat Action Plan (NFHAP), which nationally coordinates and supports regionally-based fisheries protection, restoration, and enhancement. SARP is one of the first recognized NFHAP partnerships and is the largest fish habitat partnership in the Southeast.
SARP's mission is to protect, conserve and restore aquatic resources including habitats throughout the Southeast for the continuing benefit, use and enjoyment of the American people. To learn more about SARP and its partners, programs and projects, visit SARP's website at www.southeastaquatics.net or contact SARP Coordinator, Scott Robinson, at 404-783-5241 or scottr@southeastaquatics.net. For more information about NOAA's Office of Habitat Conservation, visit their website at http://www.habitat.noaa.gov. For information about specific projects, contact the partnership's Program Administrator, Lindsay Gardner, at 615-730-8178 or lindsayg@southeastaquatics.net.
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