August 7, 2003

Contact:
Jennifer Meriam, Director
(954) 262-5355
Mike Laderman, Associate Director,
(954) 262-5354
Mara Kiffin, Coordinator,
(954) 262-5350

NSU Oceanographic Center Student Receives Coastal Management Fellowship

FORT LAUDERDALE, FL -Nova Southeastern University Oceanographic Center student Rebekah Walker has been awarded one of five Coastal Management Fellowships from the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Coastal Services Center.

Walker will be working in Charleston, South Carolina on a molluscan shellfish management plan with Steve Moore at South Carolina's Department of Health and Environmental Control and Bill Anderson at South Carolina's Department of Natural Resources. Her duties will include:

• Evaluating state laws, policies and the shellfish management framework to determine if adequate protection of South Carolina's shellfish resources exist
• Investigating methods and incorporating stakeholder expertise to restore the resource, and
• Producing a document that illustrates management issues related to the shellfish resources.

The Coastal Management Fellowship was established in 1996 to provide on-the-job education and training opportunities in coastal resource management and policy for postgraduate students and to provide project assistance to state coastal zone management programs. The program matches postgraduate students with state coastal zone programs to work on projects proposed by the state and selected by the fellowship sponsor, the NOAA Coastal Services Center.

From the nominations submitted by Sea Grant directors, twelve (12) semi-finalists are selected according to the criteria outlined above by a panel appointed by the Branch Chief of Coastal Management Services at the NOAA Coastal Services Center. The selection panel includes representation from Sea Grant, the NOAA Office of Coastal Resource Management, State Coastal Zone Management Programs, current and former fellows, and the executive director of the Coastal States Organization. A workshop to match states with fellows took place in Charleston, South Carolina in April 2003. Of the twelve semi-finalists selected in 2003, five were placed with a host state.

For more information on the Coastal Management Fellowships, visit www.csc.noaa.gov/cms/fellows.html.