While fishing in about 10 feet of water on the hard-bottom reef patches just 200 yards from shore near the Ritz Carlton, Mike Damanski confirmed the inevitable when something unexpected showed up on the end of his line. Damanski, who was out fishing with his mom and some friends for his birthday last week, landed [...]
NOAA researchers recently published An Integrated Biogeographic Assessment of Reef Fish Populations and Fisheries in Dry Tortugas: Effects of No-take Reserves, an analysis of both biological and socioeconomic changes resulting from the remote Florida marine reserve during its first five years. The report indicates that there seemed to be an early increase in certain fish species within [...]
To help the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary evaluate how well it protects its natural resources, scientists from the National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science conducted a fish and bottom-dwelling community survey. This concludes the two-year long survey project for the sanctuary. Using technical and scientific scuba techniques, the investigators documented fish and the structure of [...]
There are things Iowa farmers and other landowners can do to reduce the flow of nitrate pollution into the Mississippi River and, eventually, into the Gulf of Mexico. But some possible solutions have been repeatedly side-tracked by cost, political stalemates and uncertainty over what benefits, if any, would result in the Gulf if measures to [...]
CHAUVIN, La. — Generations of shrimpers, crabbers and oystermen have set out from this bayou village to net their catch. They share an emotional bond with Iowa’s farmers: Both harvest nature’s bounty to earn a livelihood. These fishermen depend on the sea, just as the nation’s top corn growers rely on the rich Midwest soil. [...]
A study by National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science researchers posits a new theory to help explain a long-standing puzzle in plankton ecology: despite limited nutrients, why is there such a high diversity of microscopic algae species? The study reveals that competing microalgal species are subject to evolutionary tradeoffs between cellular attributes that promote growth and reproduction (small [...]
Dr. Tyler Smith, a scientist with the University of the Virgin Islands Center for Marine and Environmental Studies in St. Thomas, was recently awarded a NOAA grant to study to understand factors influencing the occurrence of ciguatera fish poisoning and develop methods to predict outbreaks. Dr. Smith is partnering with colleagues from around the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico and Florida [...]
An extensive Karenia brevis algae bloom off of the Florida coast prompted NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science to provide the state funding to pay for offshore monitoring of the bloom’s development, movement, and toxicity. This can help the state more accurately predict its magnitude and movement of the bloom as well as its impacts. The bloom started in [...]