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)