The Richard C. Shelby Center for Ecosystem-Based Fisheries Management

	Breaking ground are (l-r) Ryan Welch, Senator Shelby’s Office; NOAA Deputy Secretary Tim Keeney; Dr. George Crozier; NMFS Exec. Captain Tim Brown; NOAA Head of Research Dr. Rick Spinrad.

The name of the building is a mouthful, but the mission is simple – to encourage fisheries management that looks at the ecosystem as a whole, not just by species. Over the past 20 years, it’s become apparent that the complexities of food webs, climate change, human impact and other features must be considered in order to understand the pressures on our ecosystems (see shark story above for an example). Officials from NOAA came on April 14th to break ground for this National Marine Fisheries Service building, the first NMFS building in Alabama. The DISL plans to make this facility “green,” or LEED-certified (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design). Although it is more costly to construct a LEED building, the costs should be offset down the road by the energy savings. Construction should be completed in early 2009.