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Shark tagging with Westminster Christian School
by Dani Escontrela, RJD Intern It was another wonderful day of shark tagging. I was so excited to head out again I could hardly sleep and ended up waking up extra early. I rode down to the keys with Jake and soon enough we were at captain Curt’s house. We loaded the boat with the […]
Black Reefs Threaten Coral Diversity in the Line Islands
By Candice Canady, Marine conservation student Coral reefs are threatened globally and, without an undisturbed example from which to form a baseline, researchers are hard-pressed to predict how global and local stressors influence them. Luckily, a number of coral reefs exist in the Central and South Pacific that may hold the key to better understanding […]
Treatment of Invasive Aquatic Species Found in Ballast Water
By Abbigail Rigdon, Marine conservation student As the world becomes more globalized, countries that at one time seemed distant are now easily traveled and easily contacted. Such contact does not exist only between humans, but between other species as well. Sometimes, however, these species can be detrimental to their new environment. Foreign species may be […]
Sea Ranching: More Economically Feasible then Other Harvesting Techniques?
By Samantha Feingold, Marine conservation student In Need of Protein! Fifty or sixty years ago, fishermen’s catches were much more diverse and productive. Routinely fishermen returned to their slips to show off several tuna and grouper, sizing longer then the workers were tall. Looking back at old photographs of a daily catch, one would […]
Development of Mangrove Islands within the Belize Barrier Reef Reserve System
By Christine Borski, Marine conservation student The Belize barrier reef and the adjacent submarine shelf make up the world’s second largest reef system and the largest in the northern hemisphere. The Pelican Cayes group (Figure 1) is part of the South Water Caye Marine Reserve (SWCMR), an 117,878 acre marine protected area (MPA) and one […]
Blue Whiting: A New Approach to Management
by Zack Good, Marine conservation student, RJD Intern The blue whiting (Micromesistius poutassu) is a medium-sized fish distributed throughout the northeastern Atlantic Ocean (Figure 1). It feeds mostly on zooplankton and smaller fish and also serves as prey for larger fish. As far as humans are concerned, it is a significant source of both income […]