NARRAGANSETT, R.I. (AP) — Rhode Island’s junior U.S. senator has received a national award for his work to highlight and fund ocean and coastal research and restoration initiatives.
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Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse received the award from the Consortium for Ocean Leadership at a Thursday ceremony at the University of Rhode Island’s graduate oceanography school in Narragansett.
The Rhode Island Democrat is co-founder and co-chairman of the 20-member Senate Oceans Caucus. He has been pushing for creation of a National Endowment for the Oceans, which would provide dedicated funding for ocean and coastal protection and support jobs in fishing and tourism.
The award is named after the late Adm. James Watkins, a past chairman of the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy and chief of naval operations under President Ronald Reagan.
