Capitol Hill Ocean Week (CHOW 2014) #OceanProm Ocean Awards Gala

Nauts with Dr. Kathryn Sullivan

Twelve Scubanauts from three chapters had the amazing opportunity to attend Capitol Hill Ocean Week in Washington D.C., starting the trip off with a beyond the scenes tour of National Geographic as provided by Julie Brown. Next stop was the American Geophyscial Union hosted by former Scubanaut Scientist, Julie Galkiewicz. 

One of the highlights of trip was attending the National Marine Sanctuary Ocean Awards Gala (#OceanProm) where the Nauts switched out wetsuits for formal attire to enjoy fine dining and conservations with our nations leaders in ocean research, policy, and resource management. 



Dr. Sylvia Earle and the Scubanauts

Nauts talked about their diving and research with Dr Kathryn Sullivan.  Dr Sullivan is the Under Secretary of Commerce for Atmosphere and NOAA Administrator and is a former astronaut who flew on three shuttle missions.
Another special honor was to meet Dr. Sylvia Earle (Her Deepness), the first Hero of the Planet named by Time Magazine.  Earle was the first female chief scientist of NOAA, a National Geographic Explorer in residence, a well known author, and lecturer. 

Nauts go Behind the Scenes at National Geographic Society

This trip to Washington, DC was very informational and super fun! Don’t get me wrong, everything we did on this trip was amazing. But the one thing that stood out to me on this trip was getting a behind the scenes tour of the National Geographic’s Society. Yeah I’ve read the magazines and watched a couple of TV shows on their channel here and there, but getting the behind the scenes tour of this historical and educational place just amazed me. We got to check out the exhibit for one of the newer shows they have on the National Geographic’s Channel called “Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey”, which explores the worlds beyond the planet earth. We also got to see the stage where many famous scientists and explorers (such as Jacques Cousteau, Jane Goodall, etc.) gave their research findings. We even got to go inside of the National Geographic's Museum where they had all of the magazines they produced from the very first one to the most recent. All in all, the National Geographic’s museum was one of my favorite places to go on CHOW. Hopefully one-day I will get a chance to visit again! Who knows I may even work there someday. 

 ~Elizabeth Vrable, age 14, St Petersburg Chapter

During the SCUBAnauts' CHOW 2104 trip we had a lot of great experiences. My favorite was the National Geographic Museum. We were able to go to conference rooms that the normal public was not allowed access. This was an amazing opportunity that most are not able to experience. After, we toured though the building, we saw the ancient gold art exhibit. It was amazing to see how much they could do so long ago without modern technology. 

~Tyler Williams, age 15, Tarpon Springs Chapter

Capitol Hill Oceans Week 2013

Over the past few days I have had the chance to participate in Capital Hill Ocean Week(CHOW) in our nation's capital Washington D.C. CHOW provides me with an opportunity to meet and interview members of the House of Representatives and Senate, Administrators of NOAA, NOAA scientists, and other people belonging to corporations that are affiliated with protecting our oceans. In my opinion this is a privilege that I can only have access to through SCUBAnauts International. SCUBAnauts has allowed me to participate in these activities which I highly enjoy and look forward to every year. The highlight of my trip was meeting with Congresswoman Kathy Castor of Florida, Congressman Don Young of Alaska, and Senator Sheldon Whitehouse. I really enjoy getting to hear their own opinions of protecting the ocean and what they have to say about what we do as SCUBAnauts.  Additionally,  meeting with NOAA scientists, and hearing their advice on my research project helps me plan my future research.

-Cole W. Kolasa, Tarpon Springs SCUBAnaut

Cole Kolasa checking out one of the sea turtles
on reef off the coast of Tarpon Springs

Coral Nursery

Today we helped attach Acropora cervicornas, the staghorn coral to a ‘tree’ with Cory Walter and Erich Bartell from Mote Marine Laboratory.

This ‘tree’ is made of PVC and the coral fragments are hung to the tree by wire. When the coral is in the water column, less algae grows on the coral prompting greater growth.  We strung up the coral with a wire to make sure the coral didn’t fall off.

We cleaned algae off of concrete discs with wire scrub brushes to give the best coral chance for survival.

On the second dive we measured the transplanted A. cervicornas coral and checked to make sure there were no diseases, bleaching, or snail predation on the corals. Gladly, we did not observe much in the way of bleaching or snail predation

~Colin Cassick, Tarpon Springs SCUBAnaut

Checking out the fish in Looe Key

Seven hours stuck in a car can feel like sand dribbling slowly down in a time keeper.  Basically, it seems feels like a lifetime.  Often at times, I would wonder why I would go through such boredom but then my answer always pushed me through.  Because after 7 hours, I would be able to dive on the 3rd largest barrier reef in the world, the Florida Keys.  It's not everday I can do 3 amazing dives in pristine blue waters.  In my neck of the woods, I would get lucky if I could see my buddy due to the poor visibility.  However, when I'm in the Keys, I can depict every detail on the ocean floor.  Take today's dives as an example. 

While my fellow nauts were observing the reef by point count, I conducted a fish survey.  There just seemed to be an endless supply of fish and I could distictly see every stripe on a French Grunt.  Those grunts were sure common.  Also common were the Brown Chromises, Seargeant Majors, Grey Snappers and Blue-headed Wrasses.  What was shocking to me on these dives were the low abundance of gobies on the reef.  On my last trip in Belize, it was common to spy on the cute little fish.  Perhaps that can be a new study; do gobies show signs of a healthy reef?  In any case, I would love to find that answer out and maybe thanks to the Disney Grant, I can!  First things first though, I need to start familiarizing myself with the more common fish because there is still more science to come!!

~Jessica Silk, St. Petersburg Chapter SCUBAnaut  

Most interesting thing learned about Belize and its reefs

Today I have spent 7 days in Belize. I have had an amazing time and learned a bunch. The diving has been unbelievable, and the hospitality has been incredible. The most interesting thing I learned about the island is that it is an atoll that was formed by the two crusts, the Caribbean and the North American crust, rubbing against each other called a slip fault and over time they formed small risen areas that eventually formed these atolls. Another thing I learned was the whole area of Glover’s Reef is a marine reserve that is regulated by the marine fisheries department. They as a whole regulate what activities can be done around the area like fishing, diving, or research. They try to make sure none of the coral is damaged and that conchs, lobster and fish are kept at a healthy level. It makes me happy to know that they are helping to keep this magnificent area preserved. Without them, this beautiful place would not have as many coral species and fish biodiversity that we have today. The most incredible thing I learned about the reefs in the surrounding area is that there are over 750 patch reefs. That is such an awe-inspiring number. The amount of reef sizes is way different from the reefs in Florida. There is a significant decrease of the sizes and abundance of reefs in Florida so being here makes me feel I have been highly privileged. I never want to leave and I want to know even more about other areas that surround this region!

~Sebastian DiGeronimo, St. Petersburg SCUBAnaut Chapter

Coral Disease in Belize

 Thought I would talk about my day today on Glovers Reef Marine Reserve. Today we did three dives, coming back to the island between each island for our surface interval. Between our first two dives, my science project partner (Brooke Liston) and I typed up the data that we collected the night before and started to plan how our project was going to come together as we collect more data.  Between dives, we took a canoe to a patch reef off of the island and completed two 10-meter AGRRA Belt Transects while snorkeling. Today we accumulated 6 more surveys towards our science project. For our project, we are correlating diseases and bleaching on corals to water depth. We are also taking other factors such as pH, temperature, salinity, and species of coral into consideration.  These environmental parameters are measured in triplicate at each location by 2 other ‘nauts, Jeremy and Danny.   

So far, have had some “problems” coming up with a large quantity of diseased or bleached corals in our data.  While this is great for the Belize coral population, it makes our project a little more difficult!  We do see diseases on almost every dive when swimming around but not always on our transect. We are looking for 8 types of diseases and I hope we have collected enough at each depth to make conclusions.

-Conner Hutchisson

Changes in fish diversity with depth

Over the past three days we have had the opportunity to dive parts of a single reef that all lie at different depths. At 90 feet, the reef is a vertical wall of coral. The wall is made up of various Montastrea spp. corals.  Generally, small fish are absent at this depth and larger fish are present.  Oddly enough on our most recent deep dive we found mainly smaller fish.  At 60 feet, the reef is the top of the wall.  Here, fish diversity and abundance was greater than at 90 feet. At 30 feet is the very top of the reef, where sand meets the edge of the reef, and the fish abundance and diversity is greatest. The smaller fish are much more abundant than larger fish.  Also, most of the juveniles are found at around 30 feet.

Day 3 of Our Glover's Reef Belize Adventure

It has only been day 3, yet us nauts have finished a ton of science! Every day we learn something new, something exciting, and something "unbelizeable" that will last us forever. For instance, last night we were blessed with a clear sky (one without rain) and were able to look up...up into a night sky like no other. Above our heads we could see a deep, black blanket with thousands of clustering stars twinkling down at us. Thanks to Carlie and her i-pad, we were able to locate the Ursa Major (the Big Dipper), the Polaris (the North Star), and other constellations, such as Virgo. Our nights are just as interesting as our days.

Today, we were given the challenge to learn about the Glover's Reef marine reserve and what exactly made it up. To start things off, a reserve is a given area protected by a government where nature can do what it does best, unharmed with little human interaction. Glover's Reef has been maintained by the Wildlife Conservation Society for three decades by a group of very hardworking people. In order to protect the reefs in the reserve, people are not allowed to fish unless they have a permit and poaching is out of the question. Although tourists can visit the research station here in Belize, there are certain areas that are restricted. With good reason too, because according to a staff member here, a major reason for this station was to help restore Nassau Grouper in the vicinity. A few of us have already fleetingly seen some and that's the way we'd like to keep it. Who knows what we will be able to see tomorrow?
~Jessica Silk

Stormy morning but having a great time!

We woke up to a ferocious thunderstorm with rain and bright lightning.  Everyone in a hammock got soaked.

Even though there was a storm, the visibility during dives was still 60 feet +.  Corals at depth were flatter and smaller.  They have to collect sunlight so they need to have more surface area and they are smaller because they don't have as many nutrients.  Corals at shallower depths were more boulder-like.  Fish at depth compared to shallower dives were not as differing.  Gobies were more abundant at depth. 

At the end of our last beautiful dive we got to swim with 4 adult dolphins.  During the night we went over Powerpoints on Belize and Stars/Constalations.  On the dock we viewed them with amazement.  

~Sofia Alaniz and Makenzie Burrows

SCUBAnauts arrive in Belize!

Brooke conducting an AGRRA point count survey

Hello, the SCUBAnauts have arrived in Belize! We got to drive though Belize city. We saw the poorest and richest parts of Belize. Since our currency is twice as strong, most of the Belize citizens are poor in our standards. After a three hour boat ride, we arrived at Glover's Reef Marine Research Center. We went on our first dive an hour after we arrived. It was off the dock in about twelve feet of water. Even though it was just a small patch reef, it was full of life. At home we have to go about thirty miles offshore to see the amount of coral and life we saw in twelve feet. The corals here are much bigger, and there is a greater diversity of fish and corals. We met the staff on the island and they are really friendly and helpful. Also, the food is delicious. We had a great first day, and we look forward to many more unbelizable days! 

~Ashley Hilbert and Brooke Liston, Tarpon Spring SCUBAnauts

Capitol Hill Ocean Week: NMSF Awards Dinner

Another wonderful night celebrating the oceans with an amazing group of role models for our next generation of ocean scientists, stewards and explorers.  To start off the night, our SCUBAnauts had the opportunity to meet one-on-one with Dr. Jane Lubchenco, the NOAA Administrator, and Dr. Kathryn Sullivan, the deputy administrator for NOAA.  Our youth greatly appreciated the time and the interest they took in learning about their student research projects.  The students, in turn, learned about some of NOAA's big initiatives and also had the opportunity to learn what it was like to be a NASA Astronaut from Dr. Sullivan (the first woman to talk in space).

Celebrating World Ocean Day!

The SCUBAnauts love the ocean! In celebration of World Oceans Day 2012 (June 8th), the nauts are taking on Washington D.C. for Capitol Hill Ocean Week (CHOW) hosted by the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation.  SCUBAnauts will discuss current ocean issues with Members of Congress and Congressional Staff, as well as experts from federal, state and local government agencies, industry, academia, and the nonprofit community.  SCUBAnauts International is a Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) U.S. Partner focused on collecting data in the marine environment.  During CHOW, SCUBAnauts will engage with students from around the world through virtual conferences to discuss ocean-related issues.  The goal of this program is to provide a diverse group of young men and women with the opportunity, knowledge and tools to become the next generation of ocean explorers, stewards, and scientists. 

Follow along as SCUBAnauts post their reflections throughout the week of June 6-9th, 2012.

PLEASE POST A COMMENT (no login required), Tell us why do you love the ocean, and what are you doing in celebration of World Oceans Day? (please include your geographical location e.g., St. Petersburg, FL USA).

Dive with Pierre-Yves Cousteau!

Today SCUBAnuats had a great day diving off the coast of Tarpon Springs with Pierre-Yves Cousteau!  Pierre Cousteau is an incredible ambassador for ocean conservation, and we look forward to continuing to work with you,  Cousteau Divers and the Canterbury Marine Science program in the future.  During the dive, SCUBAnauts assessed benthic cover, fish diversity and water quality using the Atlantic and Gulf Rapid Reef Assessment (AGRRA), REEF, and GLOBE protocols.  This dive was part of an ongoing monitoring effort by the SCUBAnauts to document reefs off the coast of Tarpon Springs.    

Keeping our coastlines clean

On Saturday June 5th, SCUBAnauts of the St. Petersburg Chapter woke up early to host a Coastal Cleanup Bash at the Clam Bayou Education Center.  They invited families from the local community to come learn about local marine ecosystems and how they are damaged by marine debris.  Following presentations by marine scientists from the College of Marine Science, University of South Florida, youth collected debris found on the beach and within the mangroves.

Coastal Cleanup Bash: Nov. 12th 2011

DO YOUR PART TO KEEP OUR BEACHES CLEAN... BE A STEWARD OF YOUR LOCAL COASTAL COMMUNITY!

The St. Petersburg Chapter of SCUBAnauts International is hosting a coastal cleanup and native plant restoration for youth (ages 10-17) and their families at Clam Bayou on November 12th, 2011 from 8:30 a.m. - noon in St. Petersburg, Florida.  In addition to the cleanup and plant restoration, the event will include presentations and hands-on activities led local marine scientists from the University of South Florida.  Join us and learn more about your local marine and coastal environments, the effects of marine debris, and what you can do to help.  All volunteers will be provided with cleanup supplies and will receive a free stainless steel water bottle.  To register and obtain more information including directions to the education center, please email Ben Prueitt (bprueitt@scubanautsintl.org).

We are asking that all participants please register and complete a brief survey on marine debris.  The links to the surveys are below:
Event Registation
Marine Debris Survey

SciDay, Part 2

Part 2: Science Research Day

On their applications for the Science Research Day, many of the ‘nauts expressed interest in learning about sea turtles.  Lucky for us, SCUBAnauts has our very own turtle expert – Rhonda Bailey.  Ms. Bailey works for the Florida Wildlife Research Institute in St. Petersburg, focusing on turtle strandings and unusual mortality events.  Working with her, the ‘nauts learned how to accurately measure turtles and were able to see a lot of sea turtles that had been killed by the extreme cold weather last winter.  They also learned about bivalves from Sarah Stephenson, a scallop expert at FWRI.

Learning how to open a scallop

Using calipers to accurately measure turtles

Our last stop of the day was over at the USGS.  The ‘nauts listened to a presentation by geochemist Jen Flannery.  She gave a presentation on the purpose of the USGS (“Science for a changing world”) and went over some of the current projects at the St. Petersburg office.  Jen also showed the ‘nauts some of her work on the isotopes found in coral skeletons and plankton that have died and settled in the sediments.  The ‘nauts learned about how these basic measurements can be used to determine past climate change and that the earth’s climate has natural variability.

Listening to Ms. Flannery talk about climate change throughout history and how scientists measure it.

What did the 'nauts think about this experience?  In their own words:

We got to do some awesome things at the science research day.  I really enjoyed all of the events and people we met. My favorite was the plankton tow and identification.  I learned a lot during the microbiology with Ms. McDaniel, like separating split pea DNA.  Another cool thing was learning about the sea turtles and bivalves. All and all I learned a lot and got to know about specific jobs in the oceanography world.

-Mackenzie

Mackenzie identifying plankton with Sennai

On Saturday (the 11th), I was able to participate in an event where we did intriguing labs with different scientists relating to their different professions. We got to make a spectroscope, catch some zooplankton, and I learned how to shuck an oyster!!! We even found out how to extract DNA from a pea plant (we thankfully ate lunch before that one). By participating I gained new knowledge about bivalves, such as how a green scallop is an invasive species, and the differences between sea turtles. Overall it was a lot more interesting than I would have thought and it was way better than just staying at home! 

-Jessica

Jessica doing a plankton tow

I had a great time at the science research day at USF. We met many scientists and learned about their fields of work. One of my favorite scientists was Maria, she taught us about spectroscopes and we even got to take one we made home. I messed up a lot making mine but in the end it worked! Another scientist I enjoyed hearing from was Sennai. He informed us about plankton - zooplankton are animals and phytoplankton are plants. We even did a plankton tow, collected some, and examined them under a microscope. Lastly I really enjoyed the sea turtles with Rhonda. We learned how to take real stranding report. All in all, I had a really informative and fun day!

-Ashley

Ashley learning how to measure a sea turtle

Science Research Day, Part 1

On August 11^th, a six SCUBAnauts from two chapters were able to participate in a Science Research Day put together by Carlie Williams, the Education Officer from the Tarpon Springs chapter.

The goal of SciDay was to show the ‘nauts some of the many different research projects going on in the Marine Science cluster in downtown St. Petersburg.  St. Pete hosts an amazing number of marine science-focused agencies.  These include USF College of Marine Science (many of our valuable volunteers are graduate students there!), the Florida Wildlife Research Institute (FWRI), U.S. Geological Survey Coastal and Marine Science Center (USGS). The scientists at these agencies are involved in a huge range of experiments such as biology, geology, ecology and much more.

The ‘nauts got the chance to learn from these researchers and see their personal projects.

First up was a presentation by Maria Vega-Rodriguez on how she uses satellites in her research.  Remote sensing is a very useful resource for oceanographers, allowing them to access data about the ocean on a very large scale and over long time periods.  The satellites can measure a lot of things including ocean color (indicating how much chlorophyll is in the water, measuring plankton blooms) and sea surface temperature. Sea surface temperature can be used to track currents or even help Maria to predict when coral bleaching might occur.  After learning about remote sensing, the ‘nauts got the chance to build their own spectroscopes, a simple method for separating light into it’s basic wavelengths.

The ‘nauts make their own spectroscopes which demonstrate that visible light can be broken down into parts (like a rainbow)

A picture of the 'nauts testing out their spectroscopes.

Sennai Habtes led a great activity where the ‘nauts used a net to do a plankton tow.  Plankton are any living organisms that can’t swim against the current, and are made up tiny little plants (phytoplankton) and little animals (zooplankton).  Many zooplankton are actually the baby larvae of bigger fish and animals that we like to eat (like tuna and lobster), so it’s really important to know what’s out there.  The ‘nauts were able to do their own plankton tows and then check out their plankton under the microscope.  Sennai challenged the ‘nauts to identify their plankton, and it was definitely difficult!

Ashley towing the plankton net along the seawall

Sheridan checking out some plankton underneath a dissecting microscope.  She's using a book about the plankton of the Gulf of Mexico to help her identify what she sees.

After lunch, the ‘nauts visited a microbiology lab to learn how marine scientists use DNA in their research.  Bacteria and viruses form the basis for many chemical reactions in the ocean, feed or cause disease in other organisms. The DNA in these microbes can tell us a lot what they are and what they do in the oceans because they’re too small to see and hard to work with in the lab. Dr. Lauren McDaniel demonstrated how to extract DNA from a sample.  After the ‘nauts learned how to get DNA out of the cells, Dr. McDaniel showed them how to visualize the DNA to see its quality and quantity.

Pulling out extracted DNA (the white stuff) with a Q-tip

Loading DNA into a gel to test the quality and size of it.

Stay tuned for Part 2!

Ask the 'nauts!

We ask all of the SCUBAnauts to keep a journal during our science expeditions.  This is both so they can take notes during lessons and to record their thoughts throughout the trip.  Here is a sample of some of their journal entries from the Bahamas trip.  Thank you to our trip helpers Alyx and Courtney for deciphering the ‘nauts’ handwriting and typing these up!

August 1, 2011 – Our Travel Day

“It’s very beautiful here on the island. Today I learned that there are over 700 islands that make up the Bahamas. I want to keep my eye and camera out on the acropora corals and all the neat creatures”

- Brooke Liston

“Learning new things makes me happy. Weird, but yes happy. We are learning about surveys and new dive stuff. I’ve learned so much; there are so many types of branching corals here.”

-Sofia Alaniz

August 2, 2011 – First Day of Diving

“Today we started diving; our first dive was at Plate’s reef. The visibility was amazing and it was more than 60 feet down. I saw PAST – yellow mustard hill coral, DLAB [Diploria labyrinthiformis] and a plethora of fish”

-Brooke Liston

“On the dive this morning I saw PCOL [Porites colonensis] and live MFRA [Montastraea faveolata] for the first time and they were everywhere. First dive was good and we saw some large snapper and grouper. On the second dive I saw a 7 foot Reef Shark up close with Kaedon. I saw an Indigo Hamlet and it is now my favorite fish. I thought the Tiger Grouper we saw was cool looking too; especially since it let us go right up to it.”

-Conner Hutchinson 

“My dive buddy (Conner H.) and I dove around, watching other people observe coral, and when we looked up we saw a 6-7 foot Reef Shark! There was also a 2 ½ foot Tiger Grouper and a lot of other awesome fish and corals.”

-Kaedon Hamm

“I have to say that the best dive was for sure dive number 3 at a site called “Shark Alley,” it lived up to its name. We saw four Caribbean reef sharks; it was probably the highlight of my trip, seeing sharks in their habitat is exactly why I wanted to start diving on top of my love for the ocean.”

Connor Waugh

“The best dive was “Shark Alley” during shark week, it was amazing. Six sharks were circling me and Ashley while we were doing point count. The sharks were so cool, one had a hook on both sides of its mouth. The last dive was in 4-12 feet of water there was a ton of dead Elkhorn Coral and some recovering.”

Colin Cassick

“Observation 60 foot dive, visibility perfect. It was a huge and I mean huge reef. The second was a 45 foot dive in “shark Alley,” I saw like 10 Caribbean sharks and got a picture with one. I also did point count on this dive. For our 12 foot dive it had really nice Elkhorn Coral [Acropora palmata] all over.”

-Ashley Hilbert

“Day 2 I saw two huge Cubera Snapper. I also saw 3 huge grouper and 4 Caribbean reef sharks; the “Shark Alley” was the coolest. One of the sharks had a hook in its mouth that had to be at least a 17/0 hook. The last dive was only 10feet and I really could’ve snorkeled it, but I really wanted to get in another dive.”

-Tyler Harder

August 3, 2011 - Second (and last) Day of Diving

“We went to “Ben’s Blue Hole” for the 3rd dive. Connor and I were doing coral surveys when a curious grouper came up to us to see what we were doing. He was so close that we actually petted him. We went to “Picasso’s Gallery” and saw another reef shark that swam under us during our buoyancy stop.”

-Kiana Hamm

“The second dive had 3 sharks and they came really close. As the day went on I found myself knowing more and more fish. The 3rd and 4th dive were really amazing, it is a lot better diving here than in Florida.”

-Danny Alaniz

“Today we had to do fish surveys and I learned how to identify Black Grouper, because they are a little confusing. On the 3rd dive at “Ben’s Blue Hole” there were 2 sharks that were following us and came within 4-5 feet of us!

-Alex Coronado

“The shallows had lots of branching corals that had the ability to move with the ebb and flow of the tides, as opposed to in the deeper water where there is less tidal action. The second dive was at “Papa Doc’s Wreck” and my buddy Sofia and I conducted our point count survey. On the two afternoon dives it was cool to see two invasive lionfish in the wild as well as several rays (“Ben’s Blue Hole”) and some squirrelfish (“Picasso’s Gallery”). Overall it was a great trip, even though the stupid weather caused it to end early.”

-Jeremy Koch