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AMRAT - Mobile Bay Rapid Assessment Has Begun!
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Tuesday, September 2, 2003 Please join us day or night to see what is being found in the bay! ******************************* BEGIN ***************************** AMRAT – Mobile Bay Rapid Assessment Has Begun! The Alabama Mississippi Rapid Assessment Team kicked off the Mobile Bay aquatic nuisance species assessment this morning from the Dauphin Island Sea Lab. Researchers are out in boats, by plane, and traveling road side to sample the plant and animal species that inhabit Mississippi Sound, Mobile Bay, and the Delta. These scientists hope to target nuisance or invasive species that can cause ecological or economic harm to Coastal Alabama. These kinds of "aliens" have often become serious problems, like fire ants and kudzu, and this is the first attempt to identify marine and estuarine species to assess the potential for new problems. Some 50 to 60 researchers will spend the week sampling during the day and analyzing during the night. They are collecting sediment, trawling, scraping pilings, and sampling just about anything that looks interesting. Boats set out this morning for offshore oil rigs, the marshes of Mississippi Sound, and the port of Mobile. They hope to cover the western as well eastern shore over the next two days. By Friday, the group hopes to have a preliminary list of species for Coastal Alabama. The results of the intensive survey will provide a means to plan and assess potential problems. Major rapid assessments have been conducted in other areas of the country. The AMRAT look into Mobile Bay is the largest Gulf wide effort to date and only second to a much smaller effort conducted in Tampa Bay. Participants hope to take what they learned and apply it to Mississippi coastal waters next year. The Mobile Bay initiative will be a pilot by which other states may model future efforts. The AMRAT is an exciting collaboration of many different specialists. The team is led by the Mobile Bay National Estuary Program through its granting organization the Dauphin Island Sea Lab. It is the first major cooperative program between the Dauphin Island Sea Laboratory and the University of Southern Mississippi’s Center for Fisheries Research and Development (Gulf Coast Research Laboratory). The impressive list of other organizations and associates includes: Alabama Marine Resources Division, Mississippi Department of Marine Resources, Weeks Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, Auburn University Marine Extension and Research Center, Auburn University, the University of South Alabama, the University of Alabama, and the US Coast Guard. The survey is being coordinated with the Gulf of Mexico Regional Panel on Aquatic Nuisance Species, itself created to make recommendations to the National Aquatic Nuisance Species Task Force, a multi-agency federal panel for guiding invasive species work nationally. ********************************* END ******************************* What: Alabama Mississippi Rapid Assessment Team - AMRAT When:
September 2 through September 5 – Mobile Bay Assessment activities September 2 through September 5 Assessment Lab phone number = 861-756 Please
join us day or night to see what is
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