The Port of Bremerton will receive a federal grant of $955,000 to help construct new transient moorage and breakwater protection.

Both are critical to the expansion of the Port’s downtown Bremerton Marina.

The funding comes from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, an Interior Department agency, through its Boating Infrastructure Grant Program, said United States Congressman Norm Dicks. The BIG program is designed to provide assistance for moorage facilities for transient non-trailerable vessels 26 feet and larger.

The grant represents a substantial contribution towards the multi-million dollar marina expansion being designed by the Port to provide more sheltered moorage for transient boats visiting the Port’s marina and to meet the needs of boaters requiring permanent moorage. Included in the construction plan will be provisions for full utilities and realignment of the naval destroyer USS Turner Joy to expand the harbor.

The competitive large grant portion received 60 proposals from 21 states requesting a total of $28.7 million of federal funding from the BIG program this year.