11
OC Participates in Rock the Ocean’s
Tortuga Music Festival
On April 13 and 14, Fort Lauderdale Beach hosted the inaugural
Tortuga Music Festival. Featuring top country and rock artists and
local culinary delights on the shores of the Florida coast, this festival
benefited scientific research, education, and increasing public
awareness about the issues impacting the world’s oceans. A portion
of the proceeds will benefit the Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation, an
organization dedicated to ensuring that future generations will enjoy
and benefit from a naturally balanced ocean ecosystem.
Students, faculty members, and researchers from the Oceanographic
Center hosted several interactive displays for the public to encourage
conservation and better management practices for sustainable
marine environments.
From left: David Kerstetter, Ph.D.; Suzy Pappas, alumna; and her husband,
George Pappas.
Satellite Tag Donated to NSU Fisheries Lab
Ph.D. Candidate
Interviewed by BBC
AbigailRenegar
, Ph.D. candidate,was interviewed
in July by Professor Iain Stewart for the BBC’s
flagship science documentary series,
Horizon
.
While this particular episode is focused on
sinkholes, it will cover the geological history of
Florida and the role that corals and coral reefs
played in shaping Florida’s geologic past. The
episode will air on BBC America in fall 2013.
Visitors enjoyed the Guy Harvey Research Institute’s
interactive displays at the Tortuga Music Festival.
NSU alumna
Suzy Pappas
(
nee
Piccini, M.S. ‘98) recently
donated a recovered satellite archival tag to David Kerstetter,
Ph.D., assistant professor, and the Fisheries Research
Laboratory. Electronic archival tags such as this one are highly
valued for their ability to store large amounts of data (usually
depth and temperature) as the marine animal moves through
the ocean. At a preprogrammed time, the tag releases from
the fish, floats to the surface, and transmits the archived data
through an NOAA satellite.
Pappas found the tag while working for the Coastal Cleanup
Corporation (CCC), a nonprofit environmental organization
based out of Miami that she created with her husband, George
Pappas. The original tag owner was notified of the recovery,
but was no longer interested in its return. However, the tag
can be rebuilt and redeployed for a fraction of the cost of a
new tag. In appreciation, Kerstetter made a $100 donation to
the CCC’s current project of restoring the sea turtle’s nesting
habitat on Elliot Key in Biscayne National Park.
Kerstetter and his laboratory have used satellite archival
tags for various research projects, including habitat studies
of such commercially and recreationally targeted species as
swordfish. Once rebuilt, this tag will be deployed as part of an
ongoing study by
Katie Carmody
, M.S. student, to track the
movements of small tunas.
For more information on the Coastal Cleanup Corporation,
you can visit their Facebook web page
/CoastalCleanupCorp
.
