Water closed to royal red shrimping

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has closed 4,213 square miles of Gulf of Mexico federal waters off Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama to royal red shrimping. The measure was taken Wednesday night after a commercial shrimper discovered tar balls in his net. Fishing for royal red shrimp is conducted by pulling fishing nets across the bottom of the ocean floor. The tar balls found in the catch may have been entrained in the net as it was dragged along the seafloor. Other fishing at shallower depths in this area has not turned up any tar balls and is thus not impacted by this closure. The tar balls found in the shrimp net are being analyzed by the U.S. Coast Guard to see if they are from the Deepwater Horizon/BP spill, NOAA said. (Source: NOAA, 11/24/10)

Monitors put on sea turtles

GULFPORT, Miss. - The Institute for Marine Mammal Studies will track endangered Kemp's Ridley sea turtles with satellite monitoring devices and plans to chart their course on a website. Three turtles released Saturday were visible via satellite, and were heading south toward the Chandeleur Islands on Sunday, said Moby Solangi, IMMS president and executive director. Solangi said the research will yield important data on the turtles. (Source: Sun Herald, 11/21/10)

Science careers topic of lecture

LONG BEACH, Miss. - Career opportunities in science and technology will be the topic of the Issues and Answers lecture Thursday at the University of Southern Mississippi's Gulf Park Campus in Long Beach. The lecture is presented by the Sun Herald and Southern Miss Gulf Coast College of Science and Technology. It will be held at 7 p.m. at the Fleming Education Center auditorium. The panel of Southern Miss professors will share information about career opportunities in geography, biology, industrial engineering technology, molecular biology, mathematics and marine science. The event is free and open to the public. (Source: USM, 11/17/10)

Microbes to the rescue

More answers are beginning to surface about what happened the oil that gushed into the Gulf of Mexico from the BP well during the spring and summer. Scientists have tracked how nontoxic elements of oil became dinner for microbes, and that in turn became food for plankton. The study focused on the way carbon specific to the oil moved through the food web. William Graham, a plankton expert at the Dauphin Island Sea Lab in Alabama, said the speed of how the oil components moved through the ecosystem may affect the overall health of the Gulf. Questions still remain on the toxic portion of the oil. The study, released Monday, was funded by the National Science Foundation, Alabama, and BP research funds distributed through the Northern Gulf Institute at Stennis Space Center, Miss. (Sources: Mobile Press-Register, AP via Sun Herald, 11/08/10)

Fishing closure hikes population

MOBILE, Ala. - Research suggests the federal closure of the richest portion of the Gulf of Mexico to all fishing during the spring and summer BP oil spill may be responsible for a dramatic increases in the number of marine creatures, from shrimp to sharks. Scientists from Dauphin Island Sea Lab have been surveying Alabama and Mississippi coastal waters for years, and data collected this year shows a three-fold increase in numbers. (Source: Mobile Press-Register, 11/07/10)

Evidence of oil on Gulf floor mounts

While the surface signs of this summer’s oil spill are harder to find, that’s not the case on the floor of the Gulf of Mexico. A "multicorer" used to obtain three soil samples, one 140 nautical miles away, one 16 nautical miles from the well and one mid-way, shows a big difference. The soil the furthest away is all mud, while a sample from the intermediate location near Gulfport, Miss., has a thin layer of oil. The one near the well is striped with a bottom layer of mud, a layer that appears to be oil and a top layer of slime that may be oil with bacteria feeding on it. What all this means for sea life is still to be determined. (Source: OnEarth magazine, 11/04/10) Federal scientists have found damage to deep sea corals and other marine life several miles from where the BP well spewed millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. Scientists said surveys using remotely operated vehicles down to 4,600 feet and seven miles from the BP well found dead and dying corals, some coated with a brown substance. Further tests are needed to determine if the substance is oil. (Source: AP, 11/05/10)

NOPP presentation scheduled

STENNIS SPACE CENTER, Miss. - The National Oceanographic Partnership Program, which provides funding for collaborative ocean issues research projects, will make a presentation Nov. 15 at Stennis Space Center's Building 1100. Participants will learn more about the program and topics scheduled for funding. NOPP is a collaboration of federal agencies that support ocean research partnerships involving academia, government, industry, and non-governmental organizations. NOPP invests in multiple areas, including oceanographic research and exploration, technology development, resource management, and ocean education. Proposals to the program must have government, university, and private industry partners. The meeting is being hosted by the Mississippi Enterprise for Technology. For more information, contact MsET's Belinda Gill at 228-688-3144. To register. (Source: MsET, 11/04/10)

Science center topping out date set

STENNIS SPACE CENTER, Miss. - A "topping out" ceremony has been scheduled for Nov. 17 for the Infinity Science Center being built near NASA's Stennis Space Center. The ceremony marks a milestone in construction of the multimillion-dollar education center, set to open in 2012. In addition to the placing of a tree at the highest part of the structure, there will be remarks by key officials. Infinity, located near the Mississippi-Louisiana state line and the Mississippi Welcome Center along Interstate 10, is designed to interest young people in science, technology, engineering and math, and to increase the public’s understanding of the earth, space and ocean science work done at Stennis Space Center. (Source: Tcp, 11/01/10)