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How will climate change affect the life cycles of fish?
by Asta Mail, RJD Intern In a coffee shop the other day, I overheard two teens discussing technology and how it affected their lives. “How did anyone ever grow up without cell phones?” they wondered aloud. “How did they know when and where to meet up?” Hearing this, I began to consider the ways people […]
Fatal Attraction: Debris and Sea Turtles
by Nick Perni, RJD Intern For decades there has been a steady increase in the production of plastic materials. Due to negligent disposal techniques and the resiliency of the material, plastic accounts for 80% of all Marine debris in some areas. The large abundance of plastic in the world’s oceans and coastal areas has […]
Shark tagging with the Sarasota Military Academy
by Emily Rose Nelson, RJD Intern 5/3/13 In the midst of finals, the best study break you can ask for is a day sharktagging in Islamorada. I was eager to put down my books and get on the water. After it had been raining for a few days straight I was nervous the trip may […]
University of Miami scientists catch great white shark in Florida Keys
5/14/13 David Shiffman, Abess Center for Ecosystem Science and Policy student Yesterday, during the course of sampling for our ongoing shark population survey, the RJ Dunlap Marine Conservation Program (RJD) team caught a great white shark estimated at 10-11 feet in length. The shark was caught east of Islamorada in the Florida Keys, in approximately 100 […]
Fish Aggregating Devices: Ecological Problems with a Common Fishing Technique
by Tom Tascone, RJD Intern If you’ve seen the television show “Wicked Tuna” on National Geographic, then you are certainly familiar with some of the techniques associated with long line fishing of these species. While this is the method of choice for recreational fishermen, commercial fishermen seeking various species of tropical tuna have abandoned the […]
Anthropogenic Noise Pollution and Cetaceans
Brittany Bartlett, RJD Intern It is no secret that our oceans and the species within them face a wide range of anthropogenic, human induced threats. And, as a result, the health of the ocean is rapidly declining. Among these threats is that of pollution; plastics, oil, runoff, etc. One form of pollution that tends to […]
Seismic airguns: A threat to our oceans
by Zackery Good, RJD Intern As the third anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill approaches on April 20th it is important to look at the lessons learned as well as the current state of offshore drilling. The Deepwater Horizon spill released over four million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico before finally […]
Cruise Ship Pollution
by Dani Escontrela, RJD Intern On a regular basis I am at Port Everglades which is one of the biggest cruise ships ports in the world and on any given day can house six or seven cruise ships, if not more. Every Saturday and Sunday the Oasis of the Seas and the Allure of the […]
Shark Tagging with the University of Miami Citizens’ Board
by Becca Shelton, RJD Intern 4/27/2013 The excitement on board the R/V Endsley was pretty apparent before we pushed away from the dock. During the prior two days, RJD had successfully tagged and released 12 nurse sharks and 2 bull sharks around Key Biscayne! You never know what you’re going to catch from day to […]