46 



—The NOAA/EPA Regional Marin e Research Program (RMRP^ is producing a research 

 plan for the Gulf of Mexico to define critical research needs to assure good water 

 quality and marine ecosystem health in the Gulf of Mexico. If funded as authorized, it 

 will pursue the research defined. 



— ^The four Sea Grant College Programs in the Gulf States have an excellent, 20 year, 

 record of research, education and extension in pursuit of wise use of our regional 

 marine resources and have engaged in a number of cooperative research efforts with 

 NURP. The Sea Grant Programs are key to coordination and funding of NECOP and 

 RMRP in the Gulf and provide hard support for the Marine Sanctuary effort (Please sec 

 Attachment 1). 



Environmental research needs for the Gulf are so massive that only through the collective 

 and cooperative efforts of these and other federal and state programs dealing with high priority, 

 real world problems can we hope to generate the knowledge necessary to facilitate wise 

 management of Gulf of Mexico resources. Unfortunately, due to budget constraints over the past 

 12 years. Congress has never been able to fund these programs at the full capacity levels 

 authorizeii In particular, Sea Grant, though extremely successful, has fallen far behind in buying 

 power due to a combination of inflation and a stagnant budget, and RMRP (Attachment 2) has 

 been given only token funding everywhere except in the state of Maine, where it was fully 

 funded. The highest priority your committee should consider is enhancing the federal suppOTt 

 base for the aforementioned programs to bring them up to the full funding levels authorized by 

 Congress. This is essential to niaintaining and advancing the necessary marine environment^ 

 research effort in the Gulf. 



The NOAA Office of Oceanic Research Programs coordinates and provides funding for 

 Sea Grant, RMRP and NURP. These programs are national in scope but are conducted 

 regionally on a competitive award basis. NURP, though not designed to provide direct research 

 fiinding, can contribute in the Gulf, as it has in the past, by providing logistic support for 

 undersea research components of the collective regional studies effort. If newly appropriated 

 funds arc anticipated, which would not place NURP in competition for Sea Grant or RMRP 

 appropriations within the NOAA Office of Oceanic Research Programs, then, under the 

 guidelines of the authorization bill, HR 3247, as passed by the House last Congress, the Gulf of 

 Mexico should be considered a candidate site for a NURP center to assist and enhance regioiud 

 marine research efforts. 



An excellent opportunity exists in the Gulf for NURP to economically join forces with 

 the NOAA National Marine Sanctuary Program, Sea Grant, the academic community, and 

 MOBIL Corporation in their cooperative agreement to utUize the offshore gas platform currently 

 in place within the Flower Garden Nation^ Marine Sanctuary (Attachment 3). This would be a 

 timely and much needed cooperative effort in support of coastal oceanography, deep-sea 

 research, coral reef ecosystem studies, and environmental monitoring in the Gulf of Mexico 

 (Attachment 4). 



An issue requiring immediate undersea research attention in the northwestern Gulf of 

 Mexico is the fishery and environmental consequence of removal of large numbers of offshore 

 oil and gas platforms over the next few decades as the offshore petroleum industry scales down. 

 Some of these platforms are being left on the seabed as artificial reefs, with the concurrence of 

 the adjacent states. There is opposition to this from the shrimp fishery but support from 

 recreational fishermen and suppwt divers. We need to know how effective these artificial reefs 

 are in increasing fishery populations and recreational opportunities so that mistakes are not made 

 which will impair our resource base over the long term. NURP can play a very effective part in 

 addressing this need. 



NOAA's role in coordinating and facilitating cooperative environmental research in the 

 Gulf of Mexico and other regions is essential. I hope the committee will support and enhance the 

 NOAA extramural research programs across-the-board. 



The following materials describe or relate to the NOAA programs referred to above. 

 Thank you for the opportunity to express my opinion to the committee. 



Dr. Thomas J. Bright, Executive Director 



Texas A&M University Sea Grant College Program 



1716 Briarcrest, Suite 702 



Bryan, TX 77802 



(409)845-3854. (FAX) 845-7525 



