Three years after the 2010 Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, Travis Pillow of the Tallahassee Democrat writes about the research that some of our scientists here at the lab, along with the other Deep-C members, are conducting on the spill. The primary concern is for the long-term effects on the ecosystem, many of which are still unknown. Director, Dr. Felicia Coleman, says "The oil spill shown a light on the Gulf that said, 'My God' ... This is the supplier, and nobody was paying any attention to how important it is." Well people are seeing now just how important the Gulf of Mexico ecosystem is and are worried about what is to become of it.

Karl Etters with the Tallahassee Democrat interviews FSUCML's Dr. Dean Grubbs and graduate students Cheston Peterson and Johanna Imhoff about their thoughts on the R/V APALACHEE. They are all anxious and excited to embark on its maiden research voyage in April. The R/V APALACHEE is the first of its kind in this region of the Gulf and many are anxious to get a turn.

After many months of construction and a lot of hard work, Geo Shipyard, Inc. proudly delivered the R/V APALACHEE to us on January 25, 2013. "It was a most pleasant experience to work with the great people of the Coastal Marine Center of Florida State University" said David LeCompte, VP Geo Shipyard. Maritime Activity Reports, Inc. put out a press release announcing its delivery. In it you'll find more details about the design and specifications of the vessel.

Last Thursday Martha Dobes, FSUCML Board of Trustees Member, hosted a shindig in Atlanta to share some of the research the FSUCML is currently working on. Many of the attendees own property nearby the lab, so it was important for them to learn about what we do here. Dr. Felicia Coleman and Dr. Dean Grubbs were in attendance and gave presentations on their own research and why it is important to protect out ocean's resources.

A large number of shark species live beyond the reach of unaided humans. The environment that they regularly reside in is difficult to research and therefore little is known about these evasive sharks. In 2010, FSUCML's Dr. Dean Grubbs paired up with researcher Edd Brooks, from Cape Eleuthera Institute's (CEI) Shark Monitoring Program, and took to the waters of the Bahamas to try and unravel some of these mysteries. Read Andy Murch's article in Diver Magazine to learn about some of their findings over the last few years.

WFSU radio's Tom Flanigan interviews Dr. Dean Grubbs (FSUCML) about his October Science Café lecture on sharks. Dr. Grubbs discusses the effects of the BP oil spill on deep sea sharks and the challenges he faced while conducting this research because of the lack of data on marine life at these depths.

Two years after the Deepwater Horizon blow out, scientists are still piecing together what happened to the millions of gallons of crude oil that gushed into the Gulf of Mexico and what the environmental consequences would be. Recently, FSUCML scientists Dr. Grubbs and Dr. Coleman and their colleagues in the Deep-C Consortium gathered in Tallahassee to discuss their long-term study of oil effects, where they were interviewed by WFSU news director Trimmel Gomes.

Dean Grubbs, usually found at the FSU Marine Lab, will talk about how the animals that live in the deepest waters near the BP oil spill are doing. When not hosting Science Cafe, Dean can be found tagging 15-foot sharks, then releasing them and harvesting the electronic data their transmitters send back to him until the devices pop off. Written by Kathleen Laufenberg - Special to the Chronicle.

The Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative (GOMRI), which is responsible for organizing the BP-funded research consortia studying the effects of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, highlights the at-sea research of the Deep-C Consortium. FSUCML researchers Dr. Dean Grubbs, Dr. Chris Koenig, and Dr. Felicia Coleman, make up part of the ecology team and are working closely with the geochemists to determine paths of oil-related contaminants through the food web, particularly as it impacts economically important fish species.

In a recent paper in Ecology and Evolution, Dr. Laure Petes, Alicia Brown, and Carley Knight describe the effect of water withdrawals and drought on the incidence of disease in Apalachicola oysters. Large oysters suffered higher mortality than small oysters and conditions worsened in summer. This has important implications for watershed management to control disease. Dr. Petes (NOAA Climate Office) conducted this research as a post doc at FSUCML, working with Alicia (FSU PhD student) and Carley (University of Southern Mississippi MSc student) when they were undergraduates in the Certificate Program in Marine Biology.