Speculation over whether the Southeast Fisheries Science Center on Virginia Key will be replaced or relocated continues to spiral amid plans by the University of Miami to request that the center stay where it is.
“The University of Miami hopes to submit a proposal to the federal government to ensure that that lab stays on Virginia Key,” said Benjamin Kirtman, director of the Cooperative Institute for Marine Studies at the university’s Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science.
Established in 1965 by the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries, the fisheries center is part of the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration. Located on 5 acres across from the Rosenstiel campus, the center is responsible for the safety and conservation of the nation’s ocean resources and its habitat.
“NOAA’s Southeast Fisheries Science Center provides the scientific advice and data needed to effectively manage the living marine resources of the Southeast region and Atlantic high seas,” said Keeley Belva, NOAA’s communication manager.
Now nearly 60 years old, the fisheries center has been referred to in recent years as an “aging facility” at the “end of its life.” A 2015 NOAA Fisheries strategic plan led to a feasibility study a year later that presented various options, including relocating it. A July 2, 2018, Miami Today article referenced NOAA considering St. Petersburg on Florida’s west coast as a possible relocation site.
Mr. Kirtman, also an atmospheric sciences professor at Rosenstiel, said it would be in the best interest of the university to have the center in Virginia Key.
“I think it would definitely stay in Florida, and I think the most likely outcome is that it would stay on Virginia Key,” Mr. Kirtman said.
NOAA’s fisheries center and the Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies at Rosenstiel have had a partnership since 1977. Together, they have conducted climate research, improved track reports of hurricanes and focused on the rebuilding of coral reefs. Several projects have been launched, including a five-year initiative to address climate challenges with an estimated cost of $31 billion. A big part of what they do is fish stock assessments, Mr. Kirtman said.
Moving the center from Virginia Key could disrupt that cooperation, Mr. Kirtman said.
“There are definitely collateral projects that students work on,” Mr. Kirtman said. “There are graduate students that are working with federal scientists and there are students that are working with the Cooperative Institute employees in the labs.”
Additionally, about 35% of the lab’s workforce is provided by the Cooperative Institute, Mr. Kirtman said. “If the center left Virginia Key and went somewhere else in Florida, each employee would have to decide what is best for them,” he said.
If the center must move, Mr. Kirtman said it should move to the Rosenstiel campus.
“That’s our hope,” he said, adding that many moving parts and budget issues must be considered. “So, it is a long timeline for any of those things to happen.”
Ultimately, the decision is not left up to Rosenstiel, Mr. Kirtman said.
“So, it is a NOAA laboratory and what happens to the NOAA laboratories is a collaborative decision between the fishery and the US Congress,” he said. “So, you know, the folks at the lab locally have some voice, but it is very limited.”
Ms. Belva affirmed the decision will be based on a collaborative agreement between NOAA and Congress.
And while NOAA has stated that a new fisheries center is “essential to achieving the agency’s vision for world-class excellence in science,” six years following the 2016 feasibility study no concrete plan has surfaced.
“It is still early in the process, and we have not made any decisions about the location of the facility,” Ms. Belva said. “We continue to review our requirements to better understand the size and capabilities needed in a new facility, regardless of location.”
