Royal Caribbean Cruises' Ocean Fund has awarded a total of $143,000 in grants to the Bermuda Biological Station for Research (BBSR) and the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute (BUEI) - more money than four of the other five grant recipients combined.

Chairman of the Ocean Fund Richard D. Fain announced yesterday that the fund was awarding $480,750 in total to seven groups worldwide.

The group receiving the largest chunk of money was the World Wildlife Fund, with $200,000 to support a pilot project in the Gulf of California aimed at reducing global bycatch of whales, dolphins and porpoises by focusing on the endangered vaquita marine porpoise.

The second largest grant was awarded to BBSR, $75,000 over three years to study the impact of pollutants on coral health and develop an early-warning diagnostic system for corals in Bermuda and other island nations. The grant will also help fund a series of international workshops bringing scientists together to allow a complete health check of corals to be made in Bermuda and other regions in the Caribbean.

This is the first time BBSR has been awarded a grant from the Ocean Fund. The project is also supported by the Department of Environmental Protection.

"We're very pleased," said BBSR's Dr. Tony Knapp. "We've been working on these special methods that can assess changes in the environment."

The research, he said, is extremely new and cutting edge, making it difficult to get government grants. With private funding such as that from Ocean Fund, however, the research is made possible, and the methods used more accessible and less expensive for developing countries.

"It gives us a unique opportunity for the future," said Dr. Knapp. "These organisations allow us to really explore new technology."

BBSR was not the only Bermuda-based scientific facility receiving recognition from the Ocean Fund, however. BUEI was awarded the third largest of the seven grants, $68,000 over two years to build and furnish a second classroom for the research aquarium's Explorer Camps educational programmes.

BUEI interim director Wendy Tucker was pleased about the grant: "I have to thank the Ocean Fund. We have worked with them before, we have a nice working relationship with them.

"They certainly feel our educational programme responds to what they really want to put forward to the public. We are very grateful for that."

This is the second time BUEI has been awarded a grant from Ocean Fund.

In the six and a half years since the launch of the Ocean Fund, the global vacation company has donated $5.95 million on behalf of Royal Caribbean International and Celebrity Cruises to 37 different organisations working to protect the marine environment.

"There are so many interesting and vital marine-conservation efforts underway by the grant applicants, it becomes very difficult to choose only a select few," said Mr. Fain.

"We see great things coming from the seven grant winners."