CHARLESTON, S.C. – U.S. Senator Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) announced the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) will award a $1.4 million grant to the South Carolina Sea Grant Consortium to be delivered at the end of the month. The grant will support the Consortium’s 2005 Research, Education, and Outreach Program. Senator DeMint was joined at the Sea Grant offices on Meeting Street by U.S. Rep. Henry Brown (R-S.C.).

“More people are visiting and moving to the South Carolina coast creating a greater need to protect our oceans,” Senator DeMint said. “This grant will help conserve our coastal resources and support economic development opportunities.”

The South Carolina Sea Grant Consortium is a federal-state university partnership that seeks a balanced approach to research, education, and extension programs to ensure coastal and marine resource problems are thoroughly understood and rigorously researched. Sea Grant research is delivered in a timely and unbiased fashion to marine and coastal resource managers and users.

“This award will allow the South Carolina Sea Grant Consortium, which is now celebrating its 25th anniversary, to continue its work to generate and deliver science-based information regarding the state’s coastal and marine resources,” said Executive Director Rick DeVoe. “These activities will support the agency’s mission to maximize the economic, environmental and social potential of these resources.”

In 2005, South Carolina Sea Grant’s program will include:

• Studies of shoreline change as a result of coastal erosion
• Development of Marine Science curriculum for middle school students
• The study of freshwater wetlands and the ecological function and management alternatives for these wetlands
• The study of the effectiveness of alternatives for managing non-point source pollution in storm water
• Development of tools to measure the effectiveness of oyster restoration efforts in the mid-Atlantic

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