Gulf of Mexico needs more protection

Antonio Bussalacchi, President of the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, and Dr. Chris D’Elia, GOMURC Board member and Dean of the LSU College of the Coast and Environment, recently wrote a guest column for the Advocate entitled “After BP Spill, protecting the Gulf region requires even more money.” Given the sunsetting of spill-funded programs like Read More

USM Hurricane Preparedness plan

The University of Southern Mississippi’s Gulf Coast Research Laboratory has been in the path of several storms in the past decade. Their experience and related Hurricane Preparedness Plan provide useful guidance for coastal facilities across the Gulf of Mexico. Thanks to Dr. Read Hendon for this resource. 1. Since GCRL initially developed this document, it Read More

Flower Garden Banks Sanctuary advisors sought

The Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary is seeking applicants for four (4) seats on its advisory council, a community-based group of individuals that provide advice for sanctuary management. The sanctuary is accepting applications for the following council seats:  education, oil & gas operations, recreational diving, and research.   Information and application materials are available Read More

‘Ecological Resilience Indicators for Five Northern Gulf of Mexico Ecosystems” report now available

NatureServe, in partnership with USGS Wetland and Aquatic Research Center, The Nature Conservancy, University of Texas, Austin, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, and the Ocean Conservancy, just published the report “Ecological resilience indicators for five Northern Gulf of Mexico ecosystems.”  Funded by the NOAA RESTORE Science Program, the project established conceptual ecological models for Read More

Modeling Community of Practice Call

Dear Colleagues, [PLEASE SHARE WITH INTERESTED PARTNERS] As the Gulf of Mexico community continues to advance our tools for data collection, interpretation, and analysis (monitoring community of practice), there may be value in establishing a network for information sharing among system modelers. In order to gauge interest in this concept, we are casting a wide Read More

New publication calls for science advocates

A team of scientists and students at the University of South Florida published an article, “Embracing Advocacy in Science” in the journal Fisheries. As stated in the abstract, “a perception remains that scientists cannot be objective and credible while also advocating a position that may inform or impact decision making. We counter this notion and Read More

Sea Grant Oil Spill Science Outreach Team news

NEWS from the Sea Grant Oil Spill Science Outreach Team of the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative: The Team just released a final, in-depth publication to close out 2017 entitle, Corals and oil spills. Scientists discovered that the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill injured some deep water coral communities, while others in shallow areas appeared unharmed. All Read More

LUMCON Releases 2015 Hypoxia Update; Abstracts Due for 2016 GoM Oil Spill Conference; Tri-international and International Marine Conferences November 2015

LUMCON Releases 2015 Hypoxia Update: On August 4, 2015, Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium (LUMCON) issued a press release with a summary addressing 2015’s hypoxic findings in the northern Gulf of Mexico. According to the summary, “This year’s ‘Dead Zone” is the size of Connecticut and Rhode combined, and is the 11th largest in size since Read More