Gulf Coast Research Laboratory
Gulf Coast Research Laboratory
You can also join via zoom webinar. Click the link below to join!
Also catch us on Facebook.
Facebook Live___________________________________
Presenter
Jeremy Higgs
Scientists at USM’s Center for Fisheries Research and Development have been conducting research on billfish for over 25 years. The studies have focused mainly on billfish within the Gulf of Mexico with partners from the recreational fishing community, conservation groups, and the fishing industry. These partnerships have provided the means to research life history projects (age, growth, and reproduction), diet studies, satellite tagging projects, larval fish surveys, and habitat surveys. Jeremy will provide an overview of the current research on billfish by the CFRD team.
Special “Thanks” to the sponsor of the Science Café, MS-AL Sea Grant, and to USM’s
Marine Education Center for tech support.
Join us for coffee, cookies, and other treats. Masks are available.
You can also join via zoom webinar. Click the link below to join!
Webinar ID:
Passcode: 01216885
___________________________________
Presenter
Flooding is changing in coastal Mississippi, becoming more intense and frequent. Coastal residents are no strangers to hazards including flooding. Join this Science Café to learn about the changes that have already been seen in rainfall patterns and rising seas, the impacts they have already had and are likely to have moving forward, and most importantly what residents and local governments can do to stay ahead of these changes. The session will be interactive with lots of opportunities to ask questions and get hands on locally specific flood risk information.
Coffee and cookies will be served.
Sponsored by Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium
You can also join via zoom webinar. Click the link below to join!
Webinar ID: 892 5794 3263
Passcode: 01216885
___________________________________
Presenter
Join us for a refresher on climate change basics and factors that make a community vulnerable. Learn how middle and high school students would address some of these challenges to make their communities more resilient. Ranging from practical to highly unexpected, their ideas illustrate the possibilities that can come from a fresh outlook and thinking outside the box. Jessie will also take this opportunity to discuss the resilience of the MEC in adapting to pandemic conditions (don’t be surprised if someone mentions Zoom) and building for the future.
You can also join via zoom webinar. Click the link below to join!
Passcode: 01216885
___________________________________
Discussion Leader
Dr. William (Bill) Hawkins (Retired)
Panelists
Dr. Michael Andres, Assistant Research Professor
Division of Coastal Sciences
Dr. Reg Blaylock, Interim Director Thad Cochran Marine Aquaculture Center
Dr. Jeff Lotz, Director Thad Cochran Marine Aquaculture Center and Professor (Retired)
John T. Ogle, GCRL Senior Technician (Retired)
Jean Jovonovich Alvillar, GCRL Senior Technician (Retired)
On Tuesday August 30, we will celebrate the life and career of Dr. Robin M. Overstreet, one of the top scientists ever to hail from Mississippi. Robin spent his entire scientific career spanning more than fifty years at the Gulf Coast Research Laboratory and was widely acknowledged as the premier marine parasitologist in the nation, if not the world. He was broadly knowledgeable and accomplished in a variety of fields of marine science including environmental toxicology, ecology, aquaculture, and fisheries management. The presentation is a panel discussion with interaction with the audience.
Sponsored by Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium
You can also join via zoom webinar. Click the link below to join!
Passcode: 53521123
___________________________________
Presenter
This presentation will focus on how the USM's GCRL Summer Field Program (SPF) opened up opportunities and prepared Dr. Shelley to become a successful aquatic veterinarian.
Special “Thanks” to the sponsor of the Science Café, MS-AL Sea Grant and to USM’s Marine Education Center for tech support.
You can also join via zoom webinar. Click the link below to join!
Passcode: 01216885
___________________________________
Presenter
“What can I do with my marine science degree?” Many young people steer away from their passion for the ocean in college because they think it’s not practical. They could not be more wrong. Technical jobs in the Mississippi Gulf Coast’s blue economy sector are surging and will only increase over the next decade. Tara Skelton’s vantage point from working in science communications for multiple organizations since 2008 showed her a myriad of ways one can put that marine science degree to work. In Skelton’s new role with the GenSea, she lets members of Gen Z know they can follow their hearts and make a good living—all without ever leaving Mississippi.
Photo Credit: Captain Kyle Johnson, Coastal Waters Outfitters
This month’s Science Café is comprised of four 12 minute presentations centered on fish tagging research being conducted on local species of great importance in the Mississippi recreational fishery: Spotted Seatrout, Red Drum, Southern Flounder and Tripletail. It is presented by scientific staff of the USM Center for Fisheries Research and Development, the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources Finfish Bureau, and the Gulf Stated Marine Fisheries Commission. Join us to hear about these ongoing studies that include the use of conventional and electronic tagging techniques to help advance understanding of fish movements and habitats in support of resource management and conservation.
Organized by the USM Center for Fisheries Research and Development as part of the Cooperative Sport Fish Tag and Release Program funded by the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service – Sport Fish Restoration Program.
Fisheries Biologist, USM Center for Fisheries Research and Development
Fisheries Biologist, Interjurisdictional Fisheries Program Coordinator, Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commission
Fisheries Biologist, Mississippi Department of Marine Resources – Finfish Bureau
Fisheries Biologist, Mississippi Department of Marine Resources – Finfish Bureau
Special “Thanks” to the sponsor of the Science Café, MS-AL Sea Grant and to USM’s Marine Education Center for tech support.
You are invited to a zoom webinar. Click the link below to join!
Webinar ID: 853 6408 7030
Password: 74829441
___________________________________
Presenter
Naturalist and Wetland Ecologist
Habitat restoration efforts are based on achieving baseline conditions that we determine are natural or the norm. But baseline is often established on conditions that may no longer be normal or current where restoration is planned, reflecting how local and regional environments may have changed over time. This is the essence of the concept of “shifting baseline syndrome”, our deference to conditions that may be normal in our lifetime but may have been quite different in the past or have been altered in the present. Understanding and considering how target conditions may have shifted are crucial to successful habitat restoration projects.
You are invited to a zoom webinar. Click the link below to join!
Webinar ID: 831 9783 7425
Password: 10547643
International numbers available: Here
___________________________________
Presenter
Fisheries Management Specialist and CEO of Blue Shell Productions
Massive influxes of floating sargassum seaweed have been impacting shorelines on both sides of the tropical Atlantic for the last decade. 2018 saw record breaking quantities of pelagic sargassum reaching the Caribbean, with 20 million metric tons reaching the region in June alone. The seaweed itself is not harmful; floating sargassum at sea is beneficial as a unique habitat. It is the large floating mats clogging fishing gear and impeding navigation at sea, and the mass stranding on coastlines and ensuing decomposition that is highly detrimental to people, ecosystems, and economies. Join us at the Science Café to hear more about what sargassum is, where it’s coming from, how we predict its arrival, and how it can be turned into an opportunity.
You are invited to a zoom webinar. Click the link below to join!
Webinar ID: 829 1861 6343
Password: 81957849
___________________________________
Presenter
Nature and Forest Therapy Guide
You are invited to a zoom webinar. Click the link below to join!
Webinar ID: 831 5472 0302
Password: 09822306
___________________________________
Presenter
Assistant Research Professor
Division of Coastal Sciences
The University of Southern Mississippi
Sturgeon are one of the oldest extant lineages of fish and also one of the most interesting. Gulf Sturgeon are a protected species in habiting coastal drainages in the northern Gulf of Mexico. In Mississippi’s waters Gulf Sturgeon have spawning populations in the Pearl and Pascagoula rivers, which also happen to be some of the most understudied river systems for this species and happen to be the two systems where the species has been slowest to show signs of recovery. This species makes seasonal migrations between coastal rivers (where they can even be seen jumping!) to estuarine and marine waters of the Gulf of Mexico.
You are invited to a zoom webinar. Click the link below to join!
Webinar ID: 879 9666 4499
Password: 98546663
___________________________________
Presenter
Bats are elusive, often misunderstood, flying mammals that come in a diversity of sizes, colors, diet palate, and habitat preferences. These amazing creatures play crucial roles within ecosystems such as natural pest control, pollination, and seed dispersal. Unfortunately, bats face many threats including habitat destruction and negative perceptions from people. Many of the bat species flying throughout the Mississippi coast roost in forested areas that are often managed by prescribed fire in efforts to improve overall forest habitat quality and increase biodiversity.