by Daniela Escontrela, RJD Intern Another exciting day of shark tagging lay ahead and I was really excited to get out on the water before the week that lay ahead for me. Today was going to be an unusual trip; and in other aspects a first for RJD. For one thing our group was going […]
by Gabi Goodrich, RJD Intern For years scientists have been discussing the effects of global warming, carbon emissions and those effects on the oceans. But how bad is it really? Currently the rate of sea-level rise is about 3.2 millimeters per year (about .13 inches per year) [1]. However, with our current output of carbon […]
by Kyra Hartog, RJD Intern With fisheries collapsing around the world, Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) have emerged as a potential solution to allow fish stocks to recover to a level at which they may be harvested sustainably. There are several types of MPAs, ranging from areas with some fishing allowed to no-take reserves. Though MPAs […]
By Dani Escontrela, RJD Intern Plastic debris is becoming a very prevalent problem for our world’s oceans. In fact two of the ocean’s largest features, the North Pacific and North Atlantic Subtropical gyres, have large patches of anthropogenic debris floating in its waters. There has been a significant amount of research that has found plastic […]
by Emily Rose Nelson, RJD Intern Annually 640,000 tons of fishing gear is lost, abandoned, or discarded at sea. This deserted fishing gear is known as “ghostnets” and has the potential to “ghostfish” by itself for decades. Ghostnets are a growing issue due to their ability to trap and kill large quantities of commercially valuable […]
By Laura Louon, Marine conservation student Few would be surprised by the fact that fishing causes a reduction in the population of the targeted fish. That is a direct effect of fishing. But nothing in the ocean happens in a vacuum; if you decrease the number of individuals of one species, you are bound to […]
by Michelle Martinek, RJD Intern This most recent trip on Captain Curt’s trusty vessel is likely one that the RJ Dunlap team and guests will not soon forget. What started as a bleary eyed, early morning trip to the keys turned into quite the adventure courtesy of our unpredictable friend Mother Nature. In the […]
by Jessica Wingar, RJD Intern What an interesting day out on the water. When I woke up that morning, I could feel that it was going to be a great day. As I was walking to my car, I checked the weather forecast; it said that there was little wind. I became very excited because […]
As part of the MAF 579 course in Citizen and Participatory Science, guest speaker Yasser Ansari discusses his motivations and interests in founding Project Noah, a platform and app for documenting species diversity around the world. He spoke to the students via Skype. The course is part of the required curriculum for students in the […]
by Ashley Hill, Marine conservation student Open ocean habitats are innately difficult to access. As a result, the majority of research on sea turtles is restricted to beach and coastal areas. However, there is a time span of several years from when hatchlings venture offshore to when the larger, juvenile turtles return to coastal waters. […]