By Ryan Keller, SRC Intern Bycatch of megafauna (larger organisms) is a serious negative side effect that stems from the practice of commercial fishing worldwide. Often fishing practices such as long lines or using nets are effective at catching the target species but also will entrap many other organisms. Often for organisms that breath air […]
By Shannon Moorhead, SRC Intern When one thinks of Antarctica, the first things that come to mind are frigid, icy weather and penguins. Therefore, it may come as a surprise to many that Antarctica is home to a variety of plant communities. Only 0.34 % of the Antarctic continent, and approximately 3% of the Antarctic […]
By Timothy Hogan, SRC Intern In the face of global warming, melting ice caps and thermal expansion gradually increase sea level, affecting the majority of the world’s coast. As a result, coastal ecosystems, such as mangrove forests and salt marshes, will lose a large amount of their diversity. The loss of settlements to flooding may […]
By Jeff Palumbo, SRC Intern Ecologically or biologically significant marine areas (EBSAs) are the result of a global effort headed by the United Nations and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) (Bax et al. 2015). The lack of marine protected areas beyond national jurisdictions was noted by the UN and addressed by the CBD. Experts […]
By Elana Rusnak, SRC Intern What are mangrove forests? There are many types of mangrove trees, but the three most common are the Red mangrove, White mangrove, and Black mangrove. Red mangroves are distinguished by their large arrays of prop roots, which are long roots that may stem out from half way up the tree […]
By Timothy Hogan, SRC Intern In response to overfishing, scientifically-derived annual catch limits and other regulations were developed to protect many declining species. Despite this, some understudied organisms could not receive the same improvements, where minimum data and low resolution made their abundance relatively unclear. Catch limitations became relatively difficult to set, as the population […]
By Julia Whidden, SRC Intern On Monday, March 14th, the SRC Crew went to sea with assistance from Firebrand events. We fished the shallow waters (~ 10 feet deep) of Safety Valve, an area of sand flats and tidal channels that connect Biscayne Bay to the Atlantic Ocean. Research dates the formation of this […]
By Elana Rusnak, SRC Intern In both wild and captive populations of Atlantic salmon, their most prevalent parasite in Norway, Lepeophtherius salmonis, or “salmon lice”, can have lethal effects on these fish. A common way to measure the overall effect these parasites have on smolt populations (young salmon making their first voyage from their home […]
By Rachel Skubel, SRC Intern There was a special feeling among the shark research crew before setting off today – a pregnant fog had rolled over Miami, giving way to a magnificent sunrise as we drove in to the marina. It was the Ides of March, and on this iteration the ocean was so still […]
By Shubham Mathur, SRC Intern The zoning of marine protected areas and reserves that prohibit or reduce human activity is a common example of spatial management used to protect natural assets for current and future benefit. Both the distribution and size of the protected areas are crucial factors in their effectiveness. Marine spatial planning (MSP) […]