Vote on aquaculture delayed

MOBILE, Ala. - Federal fishery regulators delayed a vote on a proposal that would open the Gulf of Mexico to fish farms. The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council will consider the aquaculture plan at a January meeting in Bay St. Louis, Miss. The proposal would create a permitting process for developers to raise fish in underwater cages in federal waters 3 to 200 miles offshore. (Source: Mobile Press-Register, 10/29/08)

Crozier returns to Mobile's Sea Lab

MOBILE, Ala. - George Crozier will return to the Dauphin Island Sea Lab as executive director for the next two years. The lab’s board voted Wednesday to hire Crozier, who retired in 2007 after directing the lab for 30 years. The post became vacant this month when new director L. Scott Quackenbush died. (Source: Mobile Press-Register, 10/29/08)

Vote expected on Gulf fish farms

MOBILE, Ala. - Federal fisheries regulators this week will decide whether to open the Gulf of Mexico to industrial-scale fish farms – fish raised in underwater cages and pens – that could yield more than 60 million pounds of additional seafood from the ocean. The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council will hold a public hearing Wednesday in Mobile before voting on the issue. The plan would create a permitting process for aquaculturists to develop large-scale fish farms, raising only native species in underwater cages. (Source: Mobile Press-Register, New Orleans Times-Picayune, 10/27/08)

NOAA announces plan to upgrade ships

WASHINGTON - The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has completed a detailed plan to modernize its marine operations by replacing nine research ships and refurbishing a 10th in the next 15 years. The 19-ship fleet supports a wide range of activities, including fisheries and coastal research, nautical charting, and long-range ocean and climate studies. Nine vessels entered into service since 2001. Two additional ships will enter service in the next year, with one homeported in Mississippi and the other on the West Coast. VT Halter Marine of Pascagoula, Miss. is a major builder of NOAA ships. (Source: NOAA, 10/23/08)

GCRL professor gets $2.3M grant

OCEAN SPRINGS, Miss. - Microbiologist Crystal Johnson at the Gulf Coast Research Laboratory has been awarded a four-year, $2.3 million grant from the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health to study pathogenic vibrios. Johnson and colleagues from the University of Southern Mississippi Department of Coastal Sciences at GCRL and the Department of Marine Science at Stennis Space Center will collaborate with researchers at the University of Maryland and the NOAA Northwest Fisheries Science Center in Seattle, Wash. (Source: Hattiesburg American, 10/20/08)

DI sea lab director dies

DAUPHIN ISLAND, Ala. - Marine scientist L. Scott Quackenbush, executive director of the Dauphin Island Sea Lab, died Sunday after a brief illness, officials said. He was 56. Quackenbush, a native of Baltimore, assumed the top job in July. He had previously worked as associate dean for marine science programs at Humbolt State University in Arcata, Calif. (Source: Mobile Press-Register, 10/14/08)

NGI: Focusing on the big picture

STENNIS SPACE CENTER, Miss. - It's been part of the local economy for more than two years now, yet most residents are likely to know little about it. But the Northern Gulf Institute is becoming a heavyweight research operation, and hopes to begin work soon on a new $9 million building at Stennis. (Source: Alliance Insight, October 2008)