November 30, 2005
AAUS Student Scholarship Raffle
From the American Academy of Underwater Scientists:
The time is getting short. The drawing for the AAUS Student Scholarship Raffle is only a little more then 2 weeks away. We are only at about 1/2 of our ticket sales goal. Please consider purchasing a raffle ticket in support of the AAUS Student Scholarship Fund. This is the essence of AAUS. This raffle helps to support the education of the future underwater scientists. On top of that the VR3 Dive Computer being raffled is a state of the art dive computer. This is the season for gift giving if you already have a great computer then this would make an outstanding gift! Please help out your organization by going online and purchasing a ticket.
Purchase your tickets here.
Posted by Dida at 12:33 PM
November 22, 2005
Santa Marta (Colombia) Research Diver Course
The Fundación Bucea Colombia will be offering its Third Research Diver Specialty Course Dec 12-18th. To learn more about the program, visit the Fundación Bucea Colombia site.
Posted by Dida at 3:14 PM
November 21, 2005
Budget Cuts to NOAA's Undersea Research Program
Just got this call to action from American Academy of Underwater Scientists:
The 2006 Department of Commerce budget recently passed by Congress dramatically reduces the funding for many of America's leading programs to promote public-private partnerships in ocean research and stewardship. For example, the budget would eliminate regional and national elements of the NOAA Undersea Research Program (NURP), including: the North Atlantic and Great Lakes Region at the University of Connecticut, the Mid-Atlantic Bight at Rutgers University, the Southeast Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, and the Caribbean Region at the Perry Institute for Marine Science. Additionally, funding to the West Coast & Polar Regions at the University of Alaska is cut by 55 percent. Furthermore, no funding is provided for NURP headquarters and its contribution to the Alvin deep submersible, nor for NURP’s undersea technologies that include the Aquarius undersea lab, LEO-15 seafloor observatory, remotely operated and autonomous underwater vehicles, and technical diving programs. Decades of carefully nurtured research and education capacity advanced by this national program are about to be erased by this decision. We need your help in asking NOAA to reprogram funds to sustain these lost programs.
This decision was not based on performance, relevance or science merit. The President’s FY 2006 budget included NURP at level funding (and includes the program again in its 2007 plan), and the 2006 Senate mark was above the Administration’s amount. NURP directly addresses recommendations made by the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy, and mandated by the President’s Ocean Action Plan, including:
+ NURP enables an ecosystem-based approach to managing coastal and ocean resources, providing critical data on, for example, commercially important fish and their habitats, coral reefs, deep water corals, biodiversity, methane hydrates, biotechnology, and coastal hazards.
+ NURP is a world leader in ocean technology development, for example, smarter, deeper vehicles (autonomous robots and occupied subs like Alvin), new tools and sensors for these vehicles, seafloor observatories such as LEO-15, and the world’s only underwater laboratory, Aquarius.
+ NURP supports education and outreach by providing “hands-on learning opportunities for teachers and students using underwater vehicles and data from seafloor observatories.”
Especially in the wake of devastating storms and natural disasters, declining natural resources, and the nation’s fastest growing coastal areas, it is not wise to reduce undersea research capabilities in the affected regions. No program in the country supports more scientific diving per year than these centers, as many dives per year as all the rest of NOAA combined. In addition to this significant loss in research productivity, over fifty NURP personnel with unique science and technology skills are at stake—an unrecoverable loss for NOAA.
Our request is simple; please address a letter (postal or email) to the NOAA Administrator, Vice Admiral Conrad Lautenbacher (NOAA Office of the Administrator, Herbert C. Hoover Building, 14th & Constitution Ave. NW, Washington DC 20230; email: conrad.c.lautenbacher@noaa.gov) asking him to restore the NURP budget so that it can continue to serve the nation and support the East Coast centers, Alvin, LEO-15, and Aquarius, as well as the West Coast and Hawaiian Regions. Provide your own personal reasons for keeping NURP whole.
We thank you and hope to be serving your undersea research needs in 2006.
Sincerely,
NURP Council of Center Directors
Posted by Dida at 3:14 PM
November 20, 2005
PROJECT MANAGER - NOAA, MD , USA
from the CORAL List today 10 Nov. 2005:
IMSG is seeking a Project Manager to support our growth on multiple projects primarily with the NOAA offices in Silver Spring, MD and the DC metro area. We are specifically looking for experienced managers with backgrounds in marine biology, ocean sciences, meteorology, or physical sciences. Individuals should have a strong foundation of subject matter expertise in one of the listed areas or a related field, experience managing teams of personnel in achieving challenging goals, and be skilled at business planning and marketing. Knowledge or experience with coastal zone management and science areas such as monitoring, mapping, and creating inventories using tools such as GIS or remote sensing is highly desired.
SPECIFIC DUTIES AND DESIRED QUALIFICATIONS:
Provide overall supervision of on-site Contractor personnel, act as primary interface between Government and Contractor personnel and as the corporate representative to both the Government customer and employees.
Project Manager must have knowledge of the NOAA Marine Sanctuaries Program and the Marine Protective Areas including knowledge of eco systems, oceans, and marine ecosystems. The Project Manager will supervise 30 to 40 employees and possess 5 to 7 years managing groups of at least 15 or more and 10 to 15 years experience with ecosystems related to sanctuaries. Project Manage will be required to travel to various NOAA offices, possess excellent communication skills (both oral and written) and have the ability and willingness to write proposals.
EDUCATION: Minimally, an M.S. in a relevant field of study.
SALARY: Salary will be commensurate with experience.
IMSG is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Submit all resumes to jobs@imsg.com with subject line: NOAA-Project Manager. All resumes must be sent with salary requirements for further consideration.
Posted by Dida at 8:04 AM
November 8, 2005
SS Tahoe: Hard Core Research Diving!
(first published 2005-07-18) While killing time on MLK Day at Monterey's Coast Guard Jetty (aka "the Breakwater"), my buddy Barbara and I met a hulk of a man cleaning his scooter. Turns out he he was Martin McClellan, who runs a non-profit organization in Reno that is conducting dives on the SS Tahoe.
The SS Tahoe lies in 400 foot of water, and is Nevada's first underwater historic site. This sort of scientific diving is highly technical -- at the opposiute end of the spectrum from fish watching. A look at New Millennium's research diver standards page is a bit intimidating. Certification requirements include the standard Rescue, DAN O2, and CPR certs, but also also trimix, cave, and DIR fundamentals.
Very cool. Literally. Maybe some day I'll have the cojones myself to do such a dive!
New Millineum Dive Expeditions
Posted by Dida at 9:16 AM | Comments (1)
November 1, 2005
Reef Check California
(first published 2005-Sept. 30) Reef Check, the world’s largest coral reef monitoring program, is starting a new volunteer program to survey California's rocky reefs.
Full press release below:
Reef Check California
Public Meeting
Wednesday September 28, 2005 7:00 p.m.
PG&E Community Center
6588 Ontario Road, San Luis Obispo
Reef Check California will host its first public meeting to inform interested members of the community about how to become involved with the new volunteer monitoring program. Dr. Craig Shuman, Director of Reef Check California, and Chris Knight, Director of Training, will provide background information about the mission, goals and objectives of Reef Check California and receive feedback and input from local community members.
Founded in 1996, the Reef Check Foundation runs the world’s largest coral reef monitoring program and works with communities, governments and businesses to scientifically monitor, restore, and maintain coral reefs globally. The new California program will train volunteer teams of local divers, fishermen, surfers and scientists to survey marine life on California’s underwater rocky reefs to help fill data gaps in the State’s existing marine monitoring network.
Now in its ninth year of operation and active in over 80 countries and territories throughout the world, Reef Check has received prestigious national and international environmental awards for its work, and is the United Nations’ official community-based reef monitoring program. The Reef Check Foundation is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization headquartered in Pacific Palisades California.
Please visit our website ReefCheck for more information.
Posted by Dida at 12:37 PM
