WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has awarded $650,000 in combined grant funding to Maine for ocean and coastal research projects as part of its Integrated Ocean Observing System funding for fiscal year 2008, U.S. Sen. Olympia J. Snowe, R-Maine, announced Wednesday.

The Gulf of Maine Ocean Observing System will receive $90,000 and the University of Maine will receive $560,000 in funding as part of a $1.2 million grant from NOAA to support the operation of the Northeastern Regional Coastal Ocean Observing System, or RCOOS.

The RCOOS grant is part of a larger ocean observing effort by the NOAA’s Integrated Ocean Observing System, which awarded $1.6 million in competitive funding to Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution to be broken up to regional ocean research projects like those at the University of Maine and Gulf of Maine Ocean Observing System.

“While the NOAA’s grant funding to Maine and New England is welcomed news, it is not nearly enough to meet the growing needs of our national and regional oceanic research institutes,” said Snowe, ranking member of the Subcommittee on Oceans, Atmospheres, Fisheries, and Coast Guard. “Ocean observing research is critical to determining how the oceans affect global climate change and we must commit to supporting the development and implementation of an integrated ocean and coastal observing system with adequate resources and funding.”