In response to some of the questions dealing with the funding of DISL research I have prepared the summary below. It is ironic that the original funding for the Fisheries Oceanography group at the Shelby Center for Ecosystem-Based Fisheries came through preparing the baseline for the proposed LNG terminal south of Dauphin Island. The results of that effort have provided the most comprehensive evaluation of a nine square mile area of the north-central Gulf that can be imagined. DISL has years of data concerning what lives in the bottom, on the bottom (including videos of fish inhabiting structures within the site) and stratified sampling of eggs and larvae of fish and invertebrates throughout the 70 foot water column. This station has been complemented with additional stations extending from inside Mobile Bay to thirty five miles offshore in 100 feet of water with funding from the State of Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. These should be the best possible reference stations available to assess the immediate impact of the exposure of the MS/AL shelf ecosystem.

Historical and current funding and their sources

*See letter from Robert Dudley to Governor Bob Riley