VIMS Shark-Monitoring Program Could End

October 13, 2009

Release from: Cory Nealon
Daily Press (Virginia)

GLOUCESTER - The Virginia Institute of Marine Science operates what is believed to be the nation's longest continuously running shark-monitoring program.

But the enterprise, run through a group of like-minded institutions, is in danger of folding because Congress eliminated its funding over the summer.

VIMS, a graduate school of the College of William and Mary, began tracking sharks off Virginia's coast in 1973. Its work provided some of the earliest insight into a fish often vilified for human attacks, said Jack Musick, a professor emeritus at VIMS who started the program.

VIMS relied on a variety of avenues — mostly federal grants — to fund the program. Eventually it joined two institutes in Florida and one in California to form the National Shark Research Consortium.

From 2002 until last year, the consortium received an average annual earmark of $1.56 million from Congress. The institutions split the money and used it as necessary, said Tracey Sutton, a VIMS marine science professor leading the program.

In VIMS' case, this meant covering Sutton's salary and the cost of graduate students, boat maintenance, fuel, supplies and other incidentals. Sutton said he is unsure why Congress declined to fund the consortium, but he speculates it has to do with limited resources and another shark-monitoring program.

Congress funnels its shark research funding through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. In turn, NOAA has funded the consortium and Apex Predators Investigation.

Based in Rhode Island, the Apex program covers the entire Atlantic Coast, including Virginia. Unlike the consortium, the program is built into NOAA's budget, said APEX director Nancy Kohler.

Sutton suspects federal budget woes, combined with a perceived duplication of services, led Congress to cancel the consortium's earmark.

"I kind of get the feeling that was part of it," he said.

Rep. Rob Wittman, a Republican whose district includes VIMS, said earmarks are not a reliable source of funding. He suggested VIMS and consortium members pursue other avenues for funding.

Sutton said he will ask NOAA to incorporate the consortium into its annual budget. Meanwhile, he cobbled together enough money — $20,000 — to track sharks this summer in nine spots in the Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic Ocean.

The money is sufficient for a stripped-down version of the program, and it will keep the data updated, said Sutton, but it's not enough to sustain the program's long-term viability.