Mukilteo, WA – Mayor Jennifer Gregerson, City Council Vice President Christine Cook, and Councilmembers Bob Champion, Richard Emery and Anna Rohrbough will visit Washington, D.C. next week (March 11 – 15, 2018) for the National League of Cities annual conference to advocate for NOAA’s Northwest Fisheries Science Center in Mukilteo.
“The Mukilteo Research Station, also known as the NOAA Northwest Fisheries Science Center (NWFSC) on our waterfront, has been at the forefront of fisheries research in Puget Sound for over 40 years,” said Mayor Jennifer Gregerson. “Sadly, the current field station is housed in old military barracks that are more than 60 years old, preventing NOAA from initiating critical studies on marine fish, shellfish and their habitats. This new facility will ensure our region has an improved opportunity to understand the valuable work done by NOAA NWFSC.”
Mayor Gregerson and Councilmembers will meet with Senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, and U.S. Representative Rick Larsen. In addition, the Mukilteo delegation will meet with U.S. NOAA administrators to discuss promoting the reconstruction of the Mukilteo Research Station in the federal budget. Congress appropriated $4.5M for design and initial site work, and $28.4M is needed to complete the infrastructure development. At issue is not only the future specialized research at this facility, but the loss of 28 jobs and tourism dollars that Mukilteo depends on.
Features of the new facility will include:
- Improved public education space for science communication, public engagement and student education
- Prominent location which makes it an integral part of the revitalized Mukilteo waterfront, helping to spur tourism in downtown Mukilteo
- Access to large volumes of high quality seawater to support sensitive and critical studies on marine fish, shellfish and their habitats
- Specialized state-of-the-art laboratories to support cost-effective and safe scientific work
- Long-term support for 28 scientific and support staff at Mukilteo – a new laboratory is necessary to maintain NOAA presence beyond 2020
