Tank-raised trout released

OCEAN SPRINGS, Miss. – The Gulf Coast Research Laboratory released thousands of young trout into local waters Tuesday as part of a replenishing program. A portable fish tank brought 12,000 speckled trout fingerlings from the lab to the Cedar Point boat launch. The fingerlings were released into the estuary waters of the Bay of St. Louis. The lab’s trout re-stocking program was launched several years ago. The fish are raised in tanks then released to replenish wild stock. (Source: WLOX-TV, 09/27/11)

Nonprofit proposes hatchery, aquarium

FORT WALTON BEACH, Fla. – The Destin-based nonprofit AquaGreen wants to build a marine life center on Okaloosa Island. The pitch for the proposed fish hatchery and aquarium was made to Okaloosa County commissioners at a board meeting. The county owns a 35-acre parcel on the north side of U.S. Highway 98 where the group wants the aquarium. AquaGreen’s facility would include a 30,000-square-foot interactive aquarium and 50,000 square feet of hatcheries, nurseries, classrooms and labs. (Source: Northwest Florida Daily News, 09/20/11)

$112.5M in Gulf research announced

The Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative will use $112.5 million to fund eight research teams over the next three years to study the impact of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill of 2010. The teams will investigate what happened to the oil in the environment, the impacts of the spill and the development of new tools and technologies for responding to future spills and improving mitigation and restoration. Universities with operations along the Gulf Coast participating in one or more teams include the University of Southern Mississippi, University of West Florida, Louisiana State University, Tulane University, Florida State University and the University of Mississippi. Also participating will be Dauphin Island Sea Lab of Mobile, Ala., and the Naval Research Laboratory, which has a detachment at Stennis Space Center, Miss. The GRI Research Board is an independent body established by BP to administer the company's 10-year, $500 million commitment to research. Additional grant competitions will be announced soon. (Source: PRNewswire, 08/30/11)

BP and Coast Guard: Well not leaking

NEW ORLEANS, La. - Prompted by recent press reports of oil on the surface of the Gulf of Mexico near the site of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, BP and the U.S. Coast Guard's Gulf Coast Incident Management Team conducted a visual inspection of the well. In a joint statement Friday, they said there is no release of oil occurring at the well. According to a separate Coast Guard news release, two remotely-operated vehicles were deployed from the Grant Candies at 4:30 p.m. Thursday to survey the Macondo 252 wellhead and found no evidence of leaking oil. (Source: New Orleans Times-Picayune, 08/26/11)

Oil found floating near spill

MOBILE, Ala. - Oil has been found floating on the surface of the Gulf of Mexico near the site of last year's Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The Press-Register found hundreds of small patches of oily sheen within a mile of the wellhead. Experts say it could be coming from a natural seep, oil trapped in the wreckage of the drilling rig, oil deposited on the bottom during the spill that's making it way to the surface or from the seafloor surrounding the well pipe, which was sealed last year. (Source: Mobile Press-Register, 08/24/11)

Alabama waters looking healthier

MOBILE, Ala. - A year ago, at the height of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, much of the seafloor off the Alabama coast was dead. Scientists blamed a plume of low oxygen water. But things look much different now. Several times this spring and as recently as last week, the Press-Register returned to three natural gas platforms visited during the summer of 2010. Instead of swimming through a dead sea and finding oxygen levels far below the threshold required to support marine animals, there was abundant life. A portable oxygen meter found it rich in oxygen from the surface to the seafloor. (Source: Mobile Press-Register, 08/21/11)

Ocean in Action Workshop set

BILOXI, Miss. - The Marine Technology Society and Mississippi Enterprise for Technology are hosting the Oceans in Action Workshop Aug. 22 and 23 at the Imperial Palace Casino in Biloxi. The workshop focuses on how marine technology is applied to real-world issues. As part of the event, the Mississippi Enterprise for Technology will host business matchmaking sessions. Representatives have agreed to meet with companies to help determine if their products and/or services can help support projects currently underway or anticipated within local government agencies and prime contractor organizations. The deadline for advanced meeting scheduling is Aug. 15. After that, meetings can be scheduled at the workshop if appointments are still available. Paid registration to the Oceans in Action workshop via the MTS is required before a meeting request can be submitted. For information on the workshop; for information on matchmaking. (Source: MSET, 08/10/11)

Dead zone warning

Scientists at a meeting in New Orleans Tuesday warned the dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico will create more problems unless fewer fertilizers are dumped into the Mississippi River. Farm runoff is the leading cause of the high nitrogen and phosphorous levels in the Gulf, and the increase in corn growing to meet new ethanol standards in gasoline will keep nitrogen levels high, scientists said. Researchers who mapped the dead zone, where oxygen levels are too low to support most marine life, found the size this year above average, 6,765 square miles, nowhere near the 9,400 square miles some had predicted due to spring flooding in the Midwest. Scientists have been measuring the dead zone since 1985, and this year's cruise found the dead zone was the 11th-largest. But substantial portions of the affected Gulf weren't just low in oxygen, but virtually devoid of it from the surface to the seafloor. (Sources: New York Times, AP via Sun Herald, 08/01/11, Science News, AP via The Republic, 08/02/11)

Lotz named GCRL interim director

OCEAN SPRINGS, Miss. - Jeffrey Lotz, chairman of the University of Southern Mississippi Department of Coastal Sciences, has been named interim director of the Gulf Coast Research Laboratory in Ocean Springs. He succeeds Bill Hawkins, who retired as lab director in June. (Source: University of Southern Mississippi, Sun Herald, 08/01/11)

Scientist: Oil-eating bacteria feasted

OCEAN SPRINGS, Miss. - Oil-eating bacteria in the Gulf of Mexico devoured crude oil from the Deepwater Horizon wellhead last year, researcher Terry Hazen said during the University of Southern Mississippi’s distinguished lecture series Wednesday. Hazen, co-director of the Virtual Institute for Microbial Stress and Survival at the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and a team of 50 scientists studied the spill from May 25 to Oct. 20, 2010 and found that that 45 percent of the light crude evaporated in a week, then bacteria acted like "oil-seeking missiles" and feasted on the oil. The bacteria had adapted to eating oil over millions of years from seeps in the Gulf of Mexico. "This does not give the oil companies a free pass," Hazen said. "Do not think that. It was devastating. There was a lot of oil out there for 84 days. Plankton and fish, all sorts of things, were swimming through that stuff. It is going to take long-term studies to figure out exactly how that affected them." (Source: Mississippi Press, 07/28/11)

Exports, STEM highlight Mississippi ranking

Among the states, Mississippi ranks No. 5 for export growth, according to the Enterprising States 2011 study just released by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Mississippi is also ranked 10th in cost of living, 11th in per capita income growth and higher education efficiency, and 12th in productivity growth and business birth rate. Mississippi is also ranked 20th in science, technology, engineering and math job growth as well as 20th in entrepreneurial activity. (Source: Tcp, 06/23/11) Study: U.S. Chamber of Commerce

Command at SSC gets new leader

STENNIS SPACE CENTER, Miss. - A change of command ceremony took place at the Naval Oceanography Operations Command at Stennis Space Center last week. Capt. Van Gurley assumed command, relieving Capt. David J. Walsh, who has commanded since November 2009. Gurley has served two previous tours in Mississippi, and was the first commanding officer of the Naval Oceanography Anti-Submarine Warfare Center from 2006 to 2008. The NOOC, an Echelon IV command of the Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command at SSC, is comprised of over 1,000 military and civilian personnel located at seven globally distributed subordinate commands supporting every warfare area in the fleet. Rear Adm. Jonathan W. White, Commander, Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command, presided over the ceremony. (Source: NNS, 06/14/11)

Oil impact causes rift

MOBILE, Ala. - Questions about the severity of the Gulf oil spill's environmental impact have divided officials along state lines and are now creating discord even within coastal Alabama. Data collected so far show that the spill's effects have been "minor" east of Louisiana, according to George Crozier, executive director of the Dauphin Island Sea Lab. But a letter sent by environmental groups to the Obama administration warned of a "growing health crisis." Casi Callaway, whose Mobile Baykeeper group signed on to the letter, said that while it would be irresponsible to "cry wolf," it would also be irresponsible to conclude there's no problem. An estimated 206 million gallons of crude gushed into the Gulf last spring and summer after the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded, killing 11 workers. (Source: Mobile Press Register, 06/12/11)

Data portal earns Gulf Guardian award

STENNIS SPACE CENTER, Miss. - The Gulf of Mexico Coastal Ocean Observing System - Regional Association of College Station Texas will receive a Gulf Guardian Award for 2011 in the partnership category. The awards ceremony will be in conjunction with the Gulf of Mexico Alliance Meeting Aug. 3 in New Orleans. The GCOOS Data Portal Project spans the entire Gulf coast and engages people from academia, state and local government and the private sector. The Gulf of Mexico Program initiated the Gulf Guardian awards in 2000 to recognize businesses, community groups, individuals, and agencies that are taking positive steps to keep the Gulf healthy, beautiful and productive. (Source: EPA, 06/09/11)

Was the dispersant worth it?

PENSACOLA, Fla. - The chemical sprayed in the Gulf to break up the BP oil spill may not have been effective and could be damaging the ecosystem, according to preliminary findings by University of West Florida researchers. When mixed with oil, Corexit is toxic to phytoplankton and bacteria, crucial to the Gulf of Mexico's food chain, said Wade Jeffrey, a UWF biologist with the Center for Environmental Diagnostics and Bioremediation. BP dumped nearly 2 million gallons of the dispersant in the Gulf, which saw more than 172 million gallons of oil leak into the water in the wake of the April 20 Deepwater Horizon explosion. (Source: Pensacola News Journal, 05/31/11)

Oysters likely to be wiped out

BILOXI, Miss. - As record amounts of freshwater head down the Mississippi River toward the Mississippi Sound, the oyster industry can expect to face extreme losses, an official with the Department of Marine Resources said Tuesday. Oysters will be hit hard because they're a stationary species; shrimp, finfish and crabs, which are mobile, are expected to be able to move ahead of freshwater entering the salty waters of the Sound, and the effect on the adults should be minimal, said Scott Gordon, director of the Shellfish Bureau, Office of Marine Fisheries. (Source: Sun Herald, 05/17/11)

Some fish healthy, some not

Alabama researchers fishing within 15 miles of Dauphin Island last week caught more than 300 red snapper and found no sign of infection. The Alabama scientists also caught vermillion snapper, lane snapper, triggerfish and ruby red lips, none of which showed any visible abnormalities. A team from Louisiana State University working off Alabama earlier in the week reported catching some fish in the same area that showed signs of disease, either lesions on the skin or internal damage to the liver. Concern over marine life increased in the wake of last year’s Deepwater Horizon oil spill. (Source: Mobile Press-Register, 05/15/11)

Another concern for Gulf?

The Army Corps of Engineers plans to open the Bonnet Carre Spillway Monday, sending fresh water through Lake Pontchartrain, through a strait and into the Gulf of Mexico. It’s rarely done because of the effect it has on the marine life and the Mississippi Sound. But the Mississippi River is rising, and it is an attempt to divert some of the water before it gets to New Orleans. One concern, in addition to marine life, is it could impact the oil spill research. (Source: Sun Herald, 05/06/11)

GCRL's Hawkins to retire

OCEAN SPRINGS, Miss. - Long-time Gulf Coast Research Laboratory director Bill Hawkins plans to retire at the end of June. Hawkins has served as director since early 2008 and was executive director for six years before that. Hawkins, 64, is the seventh GCRL director. During his tenure GCRL has grown. The number of buildings on the 224-acre Cedar Point site has nearly doubled, and there are 15 buildings on the 50-acre Halstead campus. (Source: Mississippi Press, 04/23/11)

Nebula used in ecosystem project

NASA is moving ahead with its work on the Nebula cloud-computing platform even after the departure of the technology's creator. The agency's John C. Stennis Space Center, Miss., recently used the cloud-computing infrastructure to process data for an environmental project aimed at boosting the health of the ecosystem in the Gulf of Mexico. The center's Applied Science and Technology Project Office has been using the results of NASA Earth Science research to address issues identified by the Gulf of Mexico Alliance, a partnership of five states. The group is collaborating to improve both the ecological and economic health of the Gulf region, which sustained a major blow last year with the Deepwater Horizon oil spill disaster. (Source: Information Week, 04/19/11)

Last of federal waters opened

NOAA on Tuesday reopened 1,041 square miles of the Gulf of Mexico to commercial and recreational fishing. It's the area immediately surrounding the Deepwater Horizon wellhead, east of Louisiana. This is the twelfth and final reopening in federal waters since July 22, and opens all of the areas in federal waters formerly closed to fishing due to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. (Source: Sun Herald, 04/19/11) April 20 marks the one-year anniversary of the explosion of the well, which killed 11 workers and spewed oil in the Gulf for three months.

Sea grass being examined

MOSS POINT, Miss. - National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration scientists on Wednesday began examining sea grasses growing within the Grand Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve to identify any damage done by vessels deploying protective boom in response to last year's BP oil spill. The experts want their work to be done before the June 1 start of the Atlantic hurricane season. (Source: Mississippi Press, 04/14/11)

Command's deputy leaving

STENNIS SPACE CENTER, Miss. - The deputy director of the Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command is leaving to take a job with NATO in Italy, the command announced. Edward C. Gough Jr. is taking a post as senior principal scientist at the NATO Undersea Research Center in La Spezia, Italy. Gough, who also is the technical director, joined the command in 2003. (Source: Sun Herald, 04/13/11)

NOAA official: Gulf seafood safe

PASCAGOULA, Miss. – A NOAA Fisheries official told reporters that "not one piece of tainted seafood has entered the market" related to the April 2010 BP oil spill. Eric Schwaab, assistant administrator, lead a tour of the testing labs in Pascagoula to show the media the methods used to ensure Gulf seafood is safe: smell tests and chemical analysis. Schwaab said the unequivocal results are that any traces of oil in more than 40 species of marine life is 100 to 1,000 times below the level of concern, the level being set by a team of scientist from the FDA, NOAA, the EPA and five Gulf states. (Source: Sun Herald, 04/12/11)

Research lab holds first Earth Day

OCEAN SPRINGS, Miss. – The Gulf Coast Research Laboratory has been a participant in Earth Day celebrations before, but for the first time it will host a daylong event. The local event had been organized through Gulf Islands National Seashore, but they have discontinued offering Earth Day events so the Ocean Springs lab is taking over. Events Saturday, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., include a mix of activities from kayaking, pontoon boat rides, trawling trips to lectures by research scientists. (Source: Mississippi Press, 04/11/11)

Dolphin samples leaving Mississippi

GULFPORT, Miss. - Federal officials are taking possession of samples from the 71 dolphins found dead on the Mississippi and Alabama coasts this year. The samples have been stored at the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies since mid-January when the animals started dying in high numbers. The concern from the start has been whether it has anything to do with last year’s BP oil spill. (Source: Sun Herald, 03/24/11)

Much oil never got to surface

MOBILE, Ala. - Much of the oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill of 2010 never made it to the surface and instead become suspended in the water column, suggests research presented at a scientific conference in Mobile. One of the emerging themes among scientists was that many sea creatures appeared to be doing better than expected. The 40th annual Benthic Ecology Meeting attracted about 600 scientists from around the nation who study the creatures that live along the seafloor. The meeting was sponsored by the Dauphin Island Sea Lab and the University of South Alabama. (Source: Mobile Press-Register, 03/20/11)

Search for answers multi-faceted

GULFPORT, Miss. – The investigation into the infant dolphin deaths along the coasts of Mississippi and Alabama will be multi-faceted in the months to come and watched by dozens of agencies and hundreds of attorneys in litigation with BP. But why the young mammals died and continue to die prematurely, weeks before the birthing season in the northern Gulf, may remain forever a mystery. (Source: Sun Herald, 03/05/11)

Cold may have killed dolphins

MOBILE, Ala. - Cold water may have killed dolphins washing ashore in Mississippi and Alabama, according to scientists with the Dauphin Island Sea Lab. They point to an apparent correlation between large pulses of chilly water that flowed into Mobile Bay during January and February and the subsequent discovery of dozens of stillborn dolphin calves in area waters. So far, 46 dolphins, mostly calves, have been found. (Source: Mobile Press-Register, 03/03/11)

NGI conference set

The Northern Gulf Institute's annual conference will be held May 17-19 in Mobile, Ala., at the Renaissance Riverview Plaza Hotel. The conference will include updates on the activities and direction of the institute, but the emphasis of the conference will be on research presentations and poster presentations by the NGI project teams. NGI, based at Stennis Space Center, Miss., is a NOAA cooperative institute that includes Mississippi State University, Florida State University, University of Southern Mississippi, Louisiana State University and Dauphin Island Sea Lab. (Source: NGI, 03/02/11)

More dead baby dolphins found

GULFPORT, Miss. - The number of new born or stillborn baby dolphins washing ashore from the Gulf or the Mississippi Sound continued to rise. The total in Mississippi and Alabama alone is 36 calves and eight adults or young adults, as of mid-day Monday. Researchers in Mississippi and Alabama are concerned about the sharp spike in the number of dead newborns along the coasts of the two states before the birthing season for dolphins gets fully under way. (Source: Sun Herald, 02/28/11)

Infant dolphin deaths up

GULFPORT, Miss. - Baby dolphins are washing up along the Mississippi and Alabama coastlines at 10 times the normal rate. The Sun Herald reports that 17 young dolphins, either aborted or dead soon after birth, have been collected along the shorelines. It's the first birthing season for dolphins since the BP oil spill. Moby Solangi, director of the Institute of Marine Mammal Studies, said that typically in January and February one or two baby dolphins per month will be found in Mississippi and Alabama. (Source: Sun Herald, 02/21/11) Over the weekend, Samantha Joye, a scientist from the University of Georgia, told a science conference in Washington that the oil from the BP spill is not degrading as quickly as hoped and has decimated life on parts of the sea floor. (Source: Multiple, including AP, 02/20/11)

Boatman assumes MTS presidency

COLUMBIA, Md. - Jerry Boatman, Ocean Science and Technology Director of QinetiQ North America, has assumed new duties as president of the Marine Technology Society. Boatman, who will serve two years, is a former senior manager of the Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command at Stennis Space Center, Miss. Drew Michel, owner and principal consultant of ROV Technologies Inc., Houston, TX, is the society’s president-elect. The Marine Technology Society is an international community of ocean engineers, technologists, policy-makers and educators who provide the ocean community with forums for the exchange of information and ideas through its peer-reviewed MTS Journal, conferences, newsletters and Web site. (Source: Marine Technology Society, January 2011)

Menhaden catch down

Gulf of Mexico menhaden landings fell 17 percent in 2010 as the Deepwater Horizon oil spill curtailed the season. Ben Landry, director of public affairs for Omega Protein, said the 2010 fishing season was rough. The company thinks the season's lower-than-average catch was due to the water closures rather than any problems with the menhaden population. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reports that the 2010 menhaden season saw 379,727 metric tons landed at four Gulf sites, compared to 457,457 metric tons in 2009. (Source: Mississippi Press, 02/03/11)

New director, deputy join NGI

Two research professors from Mississippi State University have joined the leadership team at Stennis Space Center's Northern Gulf Institute. They are Robert J. Moorhead, professor of electrical and computing engineering, and Donald C. Jackson, professor of fisheries, chosen to serve as NGI director and deputy director, respectively. The previous director, Mike Carron, left NGI to accept a position with the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative. NGI is a NOAA cooperative institute led by MSU. Other academic partners are the University of Southern Mississippi, Louisiana State University, Florida State University and Dauphin Island Sea Lab. (Source: NGI, 01/25/11)

Endangered species focus of Sea Camp

OCEAN SPRINGS, Miss. - Threatened and endangered marine species will be the focus of this year's University of Southern Mississippi Sea Camp. The program at the Gulf Coast Research Laboratory Marine Education Center is for children from 6 to 13 years of age, and it's designed to make learning about the coastal habitat fun. Sea Camp is offering six sessions in June and July. For more information call 228-818-8833 or email marine.education@usm.edu. (Source: University of Southern Mississippi, 01/18/11)

GulfQuest contracts awarded

MOBILE, Ala. - The Mobile City Council awarded $30 million to six contractors to work on the GulfQuest maritime museum and ferry landing. The contracts represent the bulk of construction. The cost of the museum, which will be located next to the cruise terminal on the Mobile River, is about $52 million. (Source: Mobile Press-Register, 01/19/11) The museum's exhibits will focus on trade, marine archaeology, the Gulf of Mexico ecosystem, marine commerce and shipbuilding, offshore oil and gas exploration and more.

Manatee found dead

The manatee death toll is now four this winter after scientists found another dead manatee in area waters this weekend. The pregnant female was found on Perdido Key, Fla. State officials asked the Dauphin Island Sea Lab's Manatee Sighting Network to perform a necropsy. The animal will be tested for exposure to oil, but scientists said the most likely cause of death was stress related to cold weather. (Source: Mobile Press-Register, 01/18/11)

New jellyfish species identified

MOBILE, Ala. - A Dauphin Island Sea Lab scientist has now determined that the giant pink jellyfish that turned up in the Gulf of Mexico in 2000 are an entirely new species. Back then, scientists initially decided the creature, nicknamed the “pink meanie,” was a jellyfish native to the Mediterranean. Now, with the aid of genetic fingerprinting and other techniques, scientists have determined the Gulf version is a unique species. (Source: Mobile Press-Register, 01/12/11)

NGI newsletter available

The Northern Gulf Institute's newsletter, The Portal, has been released. The 12-page publication includes stories about the NGI Gulf of Mexico BP research project; a new research framework for NGI; student and research spotlights; a farewell letter from former co-director Michael Carron and more. Stennis Space Center's NGI, a NOAA cooperative institute established in 2006, is a marine science research cooperative involving Mississippi State, Southern Miss, Louisiana State, Florida State and the Dauphin Island Sea Lab. (Source: NGI, 01/10/11)

USM scientist gets UMass post

Dr. Steven Lohrenz, a University of Southern Mississippi marine scientist who served on a research team responding to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, has been tapped as the new dean of the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth School of Marine Science and Technology. Lohrenz, who begins his official duties full-time in July, received his Ph.D. in biological oceanography from the MIT-Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. (Source: SouthCoastToday, The Herald News, 01/05/11)