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Cuts may close world's only underwater lab

CTV.ca: "The University of North Carolina at Wilmington may have to shut down its underwater research lab -- the only one in the world -- because of budget cuts to a program that helps pay for it.

UNCW manages the lab, a 400-square-foot capsule moored 63 feet below the surface off of Key Largo, Fla. The federal government pays for its operation.

Financing for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration undersea research arm has been flat for years. Budgetary pressure accelerated this fiscal year when the National Undersea Research Program, or NURP, saw its budget fall from $13.5 million to $12 million. The budget proposed by President Bush recommends cutting an additional $1 million.

The UNCW lab, named Aquarius, gets about $1.3 million, which primarily covers operating and maintenance costs.

...Mark Hay, a marine biologist with the Georgia Institute of Technology, spent 10 days in Aquarius last fall researching how herbivorous fish and other plant-eating animals affect seaweed growth on and around coral reefs.

"Our project required a lot of bottom time, and with Aquarius we could spend nine hours a day at the depths we needed to be at versus a few hours using a surface vessel," he said. "It provided an exceptional opportunity for us to see what goes on down there because we were out there so much."

jaynote: only lab? not quite, there's the Jules' Undersea Lodge which is also in Key Largo, is bigger, and charges only $350 a night. However, it's only in 20 feet of water.

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