Yamaha Marine and Skeeter Boats provided a Skeeter SX230 center console boat powered by a Yamaha V MAX SHO 250 outboard to the Florida State University Coastal and Marine Laboratory at the 50 Bassmaster Classic on March 8.
The lab will use the boat, sponsored by the Yamaha Rightwaters initiative, to study the effects of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on oyster habitats in the Gulf of Mexico and Apalachicola Bay.
Apalachicola Bay was the Gulf’s leading producer of oysters before the oil spill.
With grant money from the Deepwater Horizon settlement fund, the FSU Coastal and Marine Lab is now studying the collapse of the ecosystem and developing a vast habitat restoration project that seeks to bring the bay back to its previous productive state and boost other systems throughout the Gulf.
“We cover a wide range of research in our lab that will benefit from Yamaha and Skeeter’s sponsorship,” Dr. Sandra Brooks, FSU Oceanography professor focused on coral ecology, said in a statement. “What we learn from these ecosystems can apply to equally vulnerable systems all around the world.”
Yamaha Rightwaters is a national sustainability program that encompasses all of Yamaha Marine’s conservation and water quality efforts.
Program initiatives include habitat restoration, support for scientific research, mitigation of invasive species, the reduction of marine debris and environmental stewardship education.
