Southeast/Gulf/Caribbean Region

Florida Sea Grant
Redfish tracking project helps researchers, educates young anglers

• Florida Sea Grant has enlisted the help of junior anglers with a high-tech tracking project that may provide clues about where redfish go when released at fishing tournaments.
• Redfish are one of Florida's most popular saltwater game fish.
• Sea Grant Extension Agent Betty Staugler is coordinating an ongoing effort to tag and track redfish caught by anglers 10 to 16 years old during the spring WaterLIFE Kids Cup tournament.
• Sixty-six redfish were caught and each was fitted with an external tag before being released. Scientists from Mote Marine Laboratory and Progress Energy also surgically implanted sonic tags in 20 of those fish before release.
• The tags transmit sounds that can be detected by underwater sensors set up throughout Charlotte harbor.
• Data from the underwater sensors is then posted to the web at: charlotte.ifas.ufl.edu/kidscup/index.html
  The web technology allows young fishermen to follow the movements of their unique fish.

Georgia Sea Grant
Sea Grant works to attract more Clean Marinas

• The Clean Marina Program encourages recreational boaters and marina owners to protect coastal water quality by using environmentally sound operating and maintenance procedures.
• With St. Simon's Golden Isles Marina already certified, Georgia's Clean Marina Coordinator and Sea Grant Advisory agent, Paul Christian, is optimistic that more Georgia marinas will join the program.
• Seven additional marinas have pledged to complete the certification process by the end of 2007.
• Over fifty other marinas, however, are located on the Georgia coast.
• "Reaching out and encouraging them to participate is essential for success," says Christian. "I encourage boaters to request that their marinas become involved in the Clean Marina Program if they haven't already. And to those facilities that have become certified or pledge to do so, congratulations and thanks for being good stewards."

Louisiana Sea Grant
Oyster hatchery operational for first time since Katrina

• Louisiana Sea Grant's oyster hatchery on Grand Isle, which was swept away in 2005, is operational again. Since 1990, the hatchery has focused on improving Louisiana's oyster production through research and technological innovations.
• "After reopening this May, the hatchery has been temporarily fitted to produce triploid oyster seed for projects this summer," said John Supan, director of the oyster hatchery. The goal is to develop a summer crop of oysters that retains high meat yields and gives growers a higher quality product to market in the second half of the year," says Supan.
• This summer, Supan collaborated with researchers at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science for the first ever production of 100 percent triploid progeny in the Gulf region, which will be distributed among cooperating oyster industry members while further research continues to produce tetraploid broodstock at the Grand Isle hatchery.
• In addition, new technology allows oyster larvae to grow in tanks that use "flow-thru" rather than recirculated water, allowing more larvae to grow per liter of water. A new, high-tech water filtration system is the second saltwater application of the equipment in the country. And, researches have secured state-of-the-art genetic testing equipment.
• Plans are to eventually rebuild all the hatchery facilities, and fortify them to better withstand a hurricane's wrath.

Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant
Sea Grant survey seeks input on marine research needs to inform regional priorities plan

• Those interested in Gulf of Mexico coastal and marine issues are invited to complete a survey that will help scientists and funding agencies prioritize regional research and informational needs.
• Participants can help shape the future direction of Gulf of Mexico research, discovery and information dissemination by identifying the topics they believe are most important.
• Current topics of concern include stewardship of natural and cultural resources, ecosystem and human health, marine operations, natural hazards and the ocean's role in climate. This survey and other stakeholder input will be used to develop a regional priorities plan for the Gulf of Mexico research community.
• The plan will assist research-based organizations collaboratively work to address the most-pressing needs.
• The Gulf of Mexico Research Prioritization and Information Needs project is coordinated regionally by the Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi-Alabama and Texas Sea Grant programs.
• The survey, which takes approximately 10 minutes to complete, is available online at: http://masgc.org/gmrp

Puerto Rico Sea Grant
Puerto Rico Sea Grant hosts island-wide meeting for NOAA and partners

• Puerto Rico Sea Grant hosted the first-ever meeting to bring together members of all the different NOAA offices working on the Island.
• The meeting explored new avenues of collaboration between the agencies in order to help us better serve Puerto Rican coastal ecological systems, users and managers.
• Representatives from each agency and some of the NOAA offices working on the island presented overviews of their work, identifying their priorities and needs.
• Outreach was identified as one of the most important areas for collaboration among the groups. In addition, the agencies agreed to cross-link each other's web pages.
• Participants included National Weather Service, NOAA Fisheries, and the Caribbean Fishery Management Council, among others.

South Carolina Sea Grant
Annual Beach Sweep/River Sweep held in September

• A Star Wars light saber, an apartment door, a fax machine, and even the kitchen sink are among just some of the unusual items found during Beach Sweep/River Sweep, the largest one-day cleanup of the state's waterways scheduled to take place Saturday, September 15th.
• The South Carolina Sea Grant Consortium and the SC Department of Natural Resources (DNR) work together to coordinate this statewide event.
• Since the cleanup began in 1988, nearly 102,000 South Carolinians and visitors helped remove 885.5 tons of litter and aquatic debris from the state’s waterways. Each year, an average of 50 tons of debris is removed, much of it recycled.
• According to Independent Sector, an organization that puts a value on volunteer time based on Bureau of Labor statistics, Beach Sweep/River Sweep volunteers gave an estimated $200,000 worth of their time during the 2006 cleanup.
• Eighty-eight countries, including all 50 U.S. states and several territories were involved last year.
• Beach Sweep/River Sweep is held in conjunction with the Ocean Conservancy's International Coastal Cleanup, an annual event.

Texas Sea Grant
Texas dead zone diminishing

• In July, the Texas dead zone was discovered by researcher Steve DiMarco.
• The 1,750 square mile dead zone formed off the coast of Texas after heavy rains in June and July pushed the Brazos River to record levels and spilled large amounts of fresh water into the Gulf of Mexico. (A much larger dead zone forms off the Louisiana coast annually.)
• In August, with funding from the Texas Sea Grant Program, DiMarco organized a four-vessel excursion into the Gulf, to determine if areas of low-oxygen, or hypoxic water, remain.
• His team found hypoxic conditions at only two of 22 sites.
• "As flooding starts to subside, the winds and currents have probably started to break (the dead zone) up, and eventually it will be totally erased," DiMarco said.