The design phase for the Salt River Bay Marine Research and Education Center will soon get under way, thanks to a $1.25 million grant from the Department of the Interior.
Assistant Secretary for the Interior for Insular Areas Anthony Babauta presented the grant to the National Park Service and the Joint Institute for Marine Studies during a ceremony Monday morning at the NPS Visitor Contact Station at Salt River Bay, with Delegate Donna Christensen, Gov. John deJongh Jr. and other dignitaries on hand.
The center’s focus will be on the rapidly declining health of coral reef ecosystems throughout the Caribbean and other tropical regions of the world. In addition to supporting science-based management for two marine parks in St. Croix (East End Marine Park and Buck Island National Park), the center will educate V.I. students and promote public awareness of the economic and cultural heritage of the tropical oceans.
“As all of us can bear witness today, the Salt River Bay area is nothing short of a living museum,” said Christensen during the ceremony. “It is a place where nature and history meet to preserve our environment and rich cultural heritage,” she said.
Christensen said it is her hope that St. Croix becomes the research hub of the Caribbean to further investigation of coral, mangrove and ecosystem health.
“In years to come, I foresee the center being critical to reestablishing baselines needed to truly assess the state of our marine and coastal environment and carry out the public education campaigns needed to ensure that all aspects of our community are partners in the process,” she said.
“As an islander myself, I have a deep concern for the decline of coral reefs,” Babauta said, after noting that the insular areas are home to some of the most extensive and biologically diverse coral reef ecosystems in the world.
The project is a partnership between the National Park Service, the Office of Insular Affairs and a consortium of universities—including UVI, Rutgers, the University of North Carolina-Wilmington, and the University of South Carolina—known collectively as the Joint Institute for Caribbean Marine Studies.
