The Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium, based in Sarasota, Fla., has signed a memorandum of understanding with WSP USA, an engineering consultancy, to expand ongoing restoration and protection of coastlines and marine habitats in Florida and elsewhere in the southeastern U.S.
The collaboration will work to address the unprecedented changes occurring in the ocean and coastal environments of the southeastern U.S. To better understand and preserve these resources — and to protect critical habitats, food sources, economies and communities — the partnership will focus on science, research and policy in environmental restoration and climate change mitigation, and on adaptation efforts.
“We’re already collectively working to support coastal communities and invest in regional resilience,” said Rebecca Prado, WSP’s Florida coastal resilience leader. “We recognize the value of this partnership to align research and professional services, to bring a more complete base of knowledge to local communities and state agencies managing these challenges and implementing critical projects.”
Mote, an independent nonprofit marine laboratory and public aquarium, conducts marine research around the world with a focus on finding strategic solutions to the grand problems facing oceans. WSP often provides technical environmental and engineering services for coastal protection and restoration, community planning and infrastructure vulnerability assessment and adaptation using nature-based solutions.
In Florida, WSP and Mote are actively working on a range of coastal resilience and restoration projects. In Apalachicola Bay and Pensacola Bay, WSP is supporting shoreline restoration and protection and ecological uplift efforts through the application of nature-based solutions, including the design of acres of oyster reefs and saltmarshes.
In recent years, Mote has greatly expanded infrastructure at several campuses in order to address the growing needs of Mote’s coral reef research and restoration initiatives, including the creation of an International Coral Gene Bank in east Sarasota County at the Mote Aquaculture Research Park and a newly-constructed coral nursery at famed Bud N Mary’s in Islamorada in the Florida Keys. Mote’s team is working across all campuses to save coral: naturally heat-resistant, disease-resistant corals are being out-planted onto the reef, incorporating genetic diversity into coral breeding programs, and studying the coral microbiome to better understand diseases.
SOURCE: WSP USA
