Congratulations to our 2023 Matt Beard Scholarship Recipients - Adin Nahoa Domen and Rachael Best! This award is given in memory of Matthew Beard, an FSU student who intended to make the conservation of corals his life's work. The award is given by the FSUCML, with advice from the FSU Diving Control Board, to the student who best embodies all that Matt exemplified as a student of marine science and as a member of the FSU scientific diving community.
Last month, members of the Grubbs lab traveled to the Florida Keys to look for smalltooth sawfish (Pristis pectinata), in collaboration with Bimini Biological Field Station. This trip was one of many routine sampling trips made by Grubbs lab members multiple times per year to monitor the presence of one of Florida’s Critically Endangered species in the Florida Keys and Everglades National Park.
The Florida State University Coastal and Marine Laboratory and St. James Bay Golf and Pickleball Resort had another successful Play for the Bay Benefit Golf Tournament on Friday, October 13th. Fourteen sponsors and twenty-seven teams helped raise over $22,000 for FSUCML graduate students.
FSUCML alumna, Dr. Abbey Engleman, recently published a paper, "Dead but not forgotten: complexity of Acropora palmata colonies increases with greater composition of dead coral" in PeerJ! Dr. Engleman was actually Dr. Sandra Brooke's first Ph.D. student at FSUCML! Dr. Brooke is a co-author of this research as well.
In summer 2023, Dr. Daniel Okamoto and his lab made their annual cruise into Gwaii Haanas with a team of divers and researchers.
With summer coming to an end and the new semester swinging into action, the FSUCML wants to give a huge shout-out and congratulations to Danie Barnes! Danie graduated in August after completing her Master’s in Biological Science. We are so proud of her accomplishments! Read on to learn about her research, favorite FSUCML memories, and her next steps.
Scientific divers from FSU joined the FIO Peerside Program to participate in a joint project aimed at studying archaeology, marine biology, and geology of offshore springs in the Gulf of Mexico
This recently published manuscript assesses changes in fish populations in Apalachicola from 2001-2019. The lead author is Dr. Cheston Peterson, a Florida State University alumnus, with co-authors David Gandy from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission and Dr. Sandra Brooke, Research Faculty at the FSU Coastal and Marine Lab. The data for this manuscript was provided by the FWC Fisheries Independent Monitoring Program and funding for its preparation came from the Apalachicola Bay System Initiative.
Last month, FSUCML’s Dr. Jeroen Ingels attended part of the 28th International Seabed Authority (ISA) Council Meeting. At a side event organized by Nauru Ocean Resources Inc., he presented a summary of the work he, Meiolab members, and colleagues at the Federal University of Pernambuco (Recife, Brazil) have been conducting together since 2020.
In 2003, smalltooth sawfish (Pristis pectinata) had the unenviable distinction of being the first native marine fish listed under the Endangered Species Act. The classification followed decades of declining populations due to habitat loss, overharvesting and mortality as fisheries bycatch. Now, 20 years later, a 13-foot adult female captured off the coast of Cedar Key, FL suggests the species may be making a slow but spirited comeback.
