Harte Research Institute Annual Report 2015

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2015 was a pivotal year for HRI. Launching Texas OneGulf and expanding our international focus has put the institute, its partners and supporters in an unprecedented position to advance our vision of an ecologically and economically sustainable future for the Gulf of Mexico. The Harte Model, around which HRI was assembled, has proved the perfect vehicle to access the RESTORE Act funding made available after the Deepwater Horizon disaster. We have directed those funds to science driven solutions of Gulf problems, as our mission statement directs, to a level that would have seemed impossible a few years ago. HRI is the only research institute to secure funding from every RESTORE program. We are expanding that successful model through Texas OneGulf with our consortium partners. With their help we will make a difference in the Gulf on a scale I never thought possible and I am sure it would make Ed Harte smile.

Our groundwork coordination with international partners in 2015 will provide the same opportunity on an even larger stage. HRI is the recognized leader in bringing together Cuban and Mexican research and conservation expertise with counterparts in the USA to the benefit of us all. We are thankful for those of us like Dr. Wes Tunnell and Dr. Richard McLaughlin for their leadership in this area. Our capacity to fully realize our potential was also enhanced this year. Dr. David Yoskowitz has stepped into the role of Associate Director and Gail Sutton was named Chief Operating Officer. All of HRI’s senior management team contributes to our success through their engagement activities outside traditional academic venues. Dr. Paul Montagna, Dr. James Gibeaut and Dr. Greg Stunz are known and respected throughout the Gulf. These Chairs lead efforts to solve environmental water issues in Texas; make terabytes of Gulf data available to the public; and, manage Gulf fisheries. I am thankful daily for these colleagues and the talented and dedicated HRI staff that provide their support network without which we could not operate. One never knows what surprises the next year will hold but with this HRI team I feel secure that we are ready for whatever may come.

Dr. Larry D. McKinney, Ph.D.

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R E S T O R E

HRI'S VISION

A Gulf of Mexico that is ecologically and economically sustainable

OUR MISSION

Science driven solutions to Gulf of Mexico problems

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HRI News

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Partnerships

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International

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Harte’s Heroes

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Projects

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Science by the Numbers

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Reaching Out

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Our Support

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Our People

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Special-Flower Garden Banks

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H R I

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TEXAS ONEGULF Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies (HRI) was named the lead institution for Texas OneGulf, one of two RESTORE Act Centers of Excellence (COE) established in 2015 to lead Gulf of Mexico health and environmental research in Texas.

with environmental challenges. Imagine drawing a circle around an oil spill and immediately having access to real-time data, including currents and conditions, local experts and institutions, and endangered species and fisheries. This Texas OneGulf Knowledge Base will be the largest network of Gulf researchers, data and information ever assembled.

RESTORE is the federal funding allocated to restore the Gulf after damage caused by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Texas OneGulf is the first state-designated COE in the Gulf of Mexico.

Bringing together the best in the field, HRI has assembled 150 Gulf experts to form the Texas OneGulf Network of Experts. This network will assure state leaders that their decisions about Gulf-related matters are based on the best and most current science. Marine research in Texas will be guided by an action plan that streamlines efforts and encourages participation from diverse stakeholders.

Located on the campus of Texas A&M University Corpus Christi, HRI is proud to be the home of Texas OneGulf. The consortium’s nine members represent leading marine and health research institutions that have recognized expertise in environmental, human and socioeconomic issues related to the Gulf of Mexico.

Texas OneGulf ’s mission recognizes that people are part of the environment and, while natural resource problems may be science-based, solutions are peopledriven. That’s why the consortium will tap into the diverse talents of Texas scientists, human health experts and marine policy leaders, to advance research into ongoing impacts from the oil spill and other long-term issues that threaten the health and sustainability of the Gulf of Mexico.

The consortium is ensuring that Texas OneGulf addresses the many issues affecting the health and wellbeing of Texas and the Gulf. Its mission is simple: Finding scientific solutions to solve the Gulf of Mexico’s problems.

The consortium is working to assure that the best and most current science is available to emergency responders, resource managers and decision makers dealing

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BP SETTLEMENT In July, after years of litigation, BP announced it would settle federal, state and local claims related to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill for a total of more than $18.7 billion. Leaders with Texas’ RESTORE Centers of Excellence are moving forward with plans to use millions in spill-related Clean Water Act funding on research and science activities that will benefit Texas and help to restore the health of the Gulf of Mexico.

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Texas OneGulf, led by Harte Research Institute, was one of the first RESTORE Centers of Excellence in the nation to receive an award from the U.S. Treasury. It will launch an ambitious initial two-year research program to address priority Gulf of Mexico issues affecting Texas.

Developing a system to ensure that the state’s emergency responders have quick and easy access to academic resources when responding to oil spills, hurricanes and other disasters.

Using autonomous underwater vehicles to track low-to-no oxygen “dead zones” off the coast of Texas.

Linking the Gulf ’s most powerful data and information resources to assure Texas researchers, decision-makers, resource managers and citizens have access to the best available Gulf science.

After the first two-year push, Texas OneGulf will be driven by a strategic research and action plan and will administer a competitive grant program.

“Texas OneGulf joins together for the first time the very best of Texas institutions with a focus on the Gulf of Mexico to make sure our political leadership, resource managers, business and industry, and our citizens have the best available science to address issues affecting the environmental and economic health of our state,” said Dr. Larry McKinney, HRI Executive Director. “Texas is a coastal state and what happens in the Gulf and to the Gulf has real consequences for us all.”

“The Texas OneGulf initiative provides an important opportunity to improve both the health of the Gulf of Mexico, as well as the health of Texas citizens who depend on the Gulf for their livelihood and who are impacted by Gulf-related emergencies,” said Dr. Cheryl Walker, Director of the Center for Translational Environmental Health Research at Texas A&M University Health Science Center, a partner in the Texas OneGulf Consortium. “This funding will build a coordinated program to support disaster research response activities that will allow us to rapidly assess the impact of disasters along the Texas Gulf Coast on human health.”

Texas OneGulf, a consortium of nine Texas institutions, and the Subsea Systems Institute at the University of Houston shared the initial $4.036 million. With the settlement, the RESTORE Centers of Excellence in each of the five Gulf states, including Texas OneGulf, will receive 2.5 percent of $5.5 billion in Clean Water Act fines to be paid out over 15 years. The consortium is one of six research centers created after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill to direct penalties to support programs, projects and activities that restore and protect the environment and economy of the Gulf Coast region.

In addition to HRI, partners in the Texas OneGulf Consortium include: • Center for Translational Environmental Health Research at Texas A&M University Health Science Center • Marine Biology, Science and Engineering Departments, Texas A&M University at Galveston • Geochemical and Environmental Research Group (GERG) and Dept. of Oceanography of Texas A&M University • Biological and Environmental Sciences of University of Texas Rio Grande Valley • Sealy Center for Environmental Health and Medicine at University of Texas Medical Branch • The Meadows Center for Water and the Environment of Texas State University • Center for U.S. and Mexican Law at University of Houston Law Center • Gulf of Mexico Coastal Ocean Observing System-Regional Association

The establishment of the centers is part of Texas’ ongoing implementation of the federal RESTORE Act, which requires that the five Gulf States affected by the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill establish centers to conduct research on the Gulf Coast region.

“Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi is not only geographically positioned to contribute, but we also have highly qualified scientists at Harte Research Institute who have been studying the health of the Gulf for years and will be able to take that research to an elevated level with the additional funding,” said Dr. Flavius Killebrew, President and CEO of A&M-Corpus Christi.

Some of those Texas OneGulf projects include: • Establishing a network of Texas-based Gulf of Mexico experts.

• Developing metrics to objectively assess the health of the Gulf.

For more information, visit texasonegulf.org.

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GRIIDC GULF OF MEXICO RESEARCH INITIATIVE INFORMATION AND DATA COOPERATIVE The landmark $18.7 billion Deepwater Horizon settlement can make a significant contribution to restoring the Gulf of Mexico. In fact, there is something coming out of this unprecedented disaster that is hard to put a price tag on — knowledge.

That is: Knowledge to guide restoration and help ensure sustainable success; Knowledge to help better understand the Gulf ecosystem and how the world’s oceans behave and interact; Knowledge in the form of data — petabytes of it that could help prevent something like the Deepwater Horizon from reoccurring.

What is a petabyte? By definition it is 1,015 bytes of data, 1,000 terabytes (TB) or 1,000,000 gigabytes (GB).

But to those who are challenged by big numbers, consider this: If all the books in all the university libraries in the United States were digitized, that is one petabyte.

A few billion is nothing when we are talking about the three or four petabytes of data generated by Deepwater Horizon.

It is important to both permanently document and make use of all that we have learned and are learning from Deepwater Horizon. After the Ixtoc and Exxon Valdez oil spills, in 1979 and 1989, respectively, opportunities to learn were lost and in many cases what was learned was not preserved. HRI Director Dr. Larry McKinney was responsible for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s response to oil spills for more than 20 years, and was continually dismayed at the information and lessons lost. It was because of these failures that he was de-

termined to break that cycle when Deepwater Horizon erupted from the Gulf.

Fortunately, the Research Board of the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative (GOMRI) has come to the same conclusion and has the resources to do something about it.

This independent board of leading scientists that oversees research funded by the BP settlement is ensuring that the projects it funds help to prevent future oil spills and the Gulf ecosystem.

HRI and GOMRI have created a means to that end by initiating the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative Information and Data Cooperative (GRIIDC), a platform that ensures all that we are learning about the Gulf is available to us all: scientists, resource managers, decision-makers and citizens alike. The issue is not so much how to store petabytes of data. The real challenge is how to find anything once it is stored. That is what researchers at HRI are beginning to puzzle out through the efforts of GRIIDC. GRIIDC, led by HRI Endowed Chair for Coastal and Marine Geospacial Science Dr. Jim Gibeaut, is building a library with a new and improved Digital Dewy Decimal System that will help us piece together and store the lessons learned from the Deepwater Horizon spill. It’s organizing and connecting databases to help researchers find what they need.

Now that Deepwater Horizon has been settled, the floodgate of information is free from legal constraint.

Let the petabytes roll.

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A R T I F I C I A L

R E E F S

A groundbreaking survey of Texas’ artificial reefs by the Center for Sportfish Science and Conservation (CSSC) at the Harte Research Institute found a potential “sweet spot” where prized Red Snapper and other marine life flourish.

communities they hosted. They found that when rigs are reefed farther from the water’s surface the types of species populating reefed rigs did change, but the abundance and diversity of life that draws fishermen and divers did not. In addition, popular sportfish were still attracted to submerged platforms.

The study, published in the journal PLOS ONE by former HRI Assistant Research Scientist Dr. Matt Ajemian, CSSC Offshore Program Coordinator Jennifer Wetz, and HRI Endowed Chair for Fisheries and Ocean Health Dr. Greg Stunz, is the first to examine fish communities on the Gulf ’s complex of artificial reefs on such a large scale. It’s part of a partnership with the Texas Department of Parks and Wildlife to study and monitor the state’s artificial reefs.

In a second survey, researchers assessed Red Snapper populations and uncovered the best artificial habitat for the sought-after species. Measuring the abundance and size of Red Snapper, researchers found a bottom depth, about 150–200 feet below the surface, that hosts the largest and most abundant Red Snapper and some of the greatest species diversity on the reef.

Manmade structures in the northwestern Gulf of Mexico make up the largest complex of artificial reefs in the world.

Due to oil and gas exploration, the Gulf of Mexico currently hosts as many as 3,000 oil and gas platforms. Beneath the surface, these platforms attract an abundance of marine life, from corals and sponges to schooling fish.

This study was funded by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s Artificial Reef Program. Initial ROV support and operation was provided by the crew of the Schmidt Ocean Institute aboard the R/V Falkor. The Center for Sportfish Science and Conservation, Harte Research Institute, and Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi provided additional logistical and field assistance.

CSSC scientists wanted to find out if changing the orientation of these platforms also changed the marine

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I N T E R N A T I O N A L

WORKING IN CUBA The Harte Research Institute is moving forward with a number of cooperative endeavors with Cuban scientists and students this spring as the United States government moves to reestablish diplomatic ties with an eye towards environmental protection initiatives.

one of the biggest opportunities for U.S.-Cuban collaborative science, and can provide the key information to understanding a wide range of marine and coastal issues in the Gulf, such as water quality and salinity, habitat change, climate/temperature variability, sea level rise and ocean acidification.

As one of the few academic institutions licensed to work in Cuba, HRI has been engaged with the Cuban marine science community since its inception in 2002.

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“Our first years working in Cuba we really focused on getting scientists together to discuss the issues and come up with small-scale projects,” said HRI Executive Director Dr. Larry McKinney. “Now, as the country opens up, that’s beginning to change and we’re really shifting our focus to look at larger-scale projects that we can begin to move forward. Our staff is not new to Cuba or the region, and our Institute’s mission is to support a more sustainable future for the entire tri-national Gulf region.”

HRI was a founding participant in the Trinational Initiative, a historic meeting organized with the goal of establishing a framework for collaboration between Cuba, Mexico and the United States for ongoing joint scientific research and to develop a regional plan of action designed to preserve and protect shared waters and marine habitats.

In Fall 2016, HRI will be moving forward with two initiatives in Cuba: •

An International Workshop on Governance for the Gulf of Mexico aimed at providing students with an integrated understanding of national and international resource management and conservation policies in the Gulf of Mexico region through an educational and cultural experience. This year’s experience will take place in Cuba, with students from the U.S., Mexico and Cuba coming together to contribute their perspectives on the social, economic, political and environmental issues to develop better management strategies for sustainable management of Gulf of Mexico resources.

A two-day coastal and ocean monitoring and conservation research and integration workshop in Havana, Cuba, aimed at advancing coastal and ocean monitoring in the nation through research and network development and integration activities.

Gathering data on environmental change in Cuba has been identified by the scientific community as

Cuba is home to important Gulf resources and talented scientists, McKinney said. But due to the U.S. embargo, Cuban researchers have lacked basic access to things we

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take for granted at home, like state-of-the-art computers, scientific equipment, the Internet and the vast library of scientific literature it can access.

monetary and non-monetary value that residents derive from their natural resources. This will allow the nation to better understand the value of its natural resources as it opens itself up to expanding tourism, and make better decisions about which portions of the island to develop, and which to preserve.

The United States recently signed a Joint Statement on Cooperative Environment Protection with Cuba, aimed at collaborating on environmental protection initiatives in the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean. In light of these expanding opportunities, McKinney said HRI is exploring possibilities for other collaborative work in Cuba, including a project that would map the island nation’s sea grasses. Some of the most well-known work internationally has focused on mapping coral reefs, but McKinney said it’s the sea grasses that actually provide vital habitat for the nation’s fishery. The institute is also exploring collaborative work with Cuba in the area of ecosystems services, which helps to understand both

“Our institute’s mission is to promote excellence in conservation, research and innovative public policy in the Gulf of Mexico through a tri-national relationship between scientists from the United States, Mexico and Cuba,” McKinney said. “Up until this point, we’ve had more progress in Mexico due to the official barriers in Cuba, but those barriers are dropping now and I’m really excited to see what we can accomplish as we move forward.”

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P R O J E C T S

CEDAR BAYOU Coastal Conservation Association (CCA) Texas members got a firsthand look at coastal waters that are now flourishing during a May 2015 trip to the historic Cedar Bayou fish pass coordinated by Harte Research Institute (HRI).

enlivened environment that is attracting more birds and marine life and, as a result, many more recreational fishermen and charter guides. Since reopening, the area has seen higher densities of juvenile redfish, blue crab and penaeid shrimp; redfish can migrate directly to offshore spawning grounds; and the dynamic natural inlet process has been restored.

HRI master’s student Quentin Hall led the group, which included CCA Texas Assistant Directors, John Blaha and Drew Adams, along with chapter members from across the state.

Cedar Bayou pass connected the Gulf of Mexico to Mesquite Bay north of Rockport, Texas, until it was intentionally closed after the 1979 Ixtoc I blowout in the Bay of Campeche threatened Texas shores with oil. Over three decades later, on September 25, 2014, in an accomplishment that many people said could not be done, the historic pass was reopened through funding from Aransas County, CCA Texas, Texas Parks and Wildlife, the Texas General Land Office and private donations.

Hall demonstrated methods that HRI scientists have been using to monitor changes in the environment since the opening of Cedar Bayou in 2014. He showed how, through using acoustic telemetry, scientists can determine whether adult red drum are migrating through Cedar Bayou and ways that they measure the number of fish and crustaceans in the area. The group witnessed an

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SEA LEVEL RISE The Harte Research Institute (HRI) is conducting one of the most comprehensive, multidisciplinary sea level rise assessments ever performed in Texas. “Living with Sea Level Rise” will provide Texas Gulf Coast stakeholders with the information they need to understand and adapt to higher sea levels within 50–100 years.

two models examining sea level rise impacts on natural and human environments.

Based on the results of those models, members of Yoskowitz’s socio-economic group will develop a survey to capture data about the value residents place in the local environment.

Originally intended to project sea level rise and its impacts in the Houston area alone, HRI received a $137,000 grant from the Meadows Foundation to provide an assessment for the entire Texas Coast. The Meadows grant will leverage a $790,000 grant from Houston Endowment, a $30,000 grant from the Shield-Ayres Foundation and a $10,000 grant from The Trull Foundation.

McLaughlin is currently working with students at the University of Houston Law Center to research laws currently on the books that could affect potential adaptation strategies for dealing with sea level rise.

The results of this work, findings, maps and data, will be made publically available on an interactive website so that policy makers, managers, landowners, developers and the general public can better evaluate the impacts of future sea level rise on their communities with greater precision and accuracy. The project is projected to continue through 2017.

Dr. James Gibeaut, Chair for Geospatial Sciences, is principle lead on the project, working with Dr. David Yoskowitz, Chair, Socio-Economics, and Dr. Richard McLaughlin, Chair, Marine Policy and Law. The project will take a unique, holistic approach to studying sea level rise and its impact on the Gulf Coast, employing HRI’s multidisciplinary team to examine and model potential environmental and human impacts and survey existing coastal management strategies to see how they apply to projected sea level rise.

The project is currently underway on multiple fronts.

Gibeaut’s team has generated and collected mapping data from numerous federal and state agencies to run

ECOSYSTEMS SERVICES What’s the Gulf Coast worth? Scientists with the Harte Research Institute Socio-Economics Group have developed a new online tool that shares the value we place on three Gulf habitats.

servation programs and could vote to pay nothing and take no action, resulting in an expected loss of a specified number of square miles of habitat and the associated services. Or, they could choose from two conservation plans offering environmental improvements at different costs.

Associate Research Scientist Dr. Cristina Carollo and Endowed Chair Dr. David Yoskowitz developed the project, using online surveys to determine how much Gulf residents value salt marsh, mangroves, and oyster reefs. The results, available at gecoview.org, went online in May 2015 and will be continually updated.

The hypothetical cost of any conservation plan would be added as a surcharge to the participants’ utility bills, according to the survey instructions. The surcharge would last 10 years, and the program would be re-evaluated after five years.

Gulf habitats provide many benefits to people known as ecosystem services. While some values are easier to determine (the dockside price for red snapper, for instance), others are more difficult to calculate. The project’s goal was to determine how much people in each state would be willing to pay — if at all — for the conservation of Gulf habitats. That can aid decision makers by providing dollar values for coastal habitats when comparing alternative management scenarios.

Using the results, the team was able to develop an annual dollar value for the non-market services that salt marshes, mangroves and oyster reefs provide.

The project was funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency-Gulf of Mexico Program, Florida Sea Grant College Program, Louisiana Sea Grant College Program, Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium and Texas Sea Grant.

The survey was administered to 1,200 Gulf Coast residents. Participants were asked to choose amongst con10

OUTREACH PROJECTS OYSTERS IN THE CLASSROOM Through a partnership with local aquatic science teachers, Harte Research Institute (HRI) is connecting school children with our local environment, specifically with oyster reefs found in area waters. Dr. Jennifer Pollack, Assistant Professor in the Department of Life Sciences at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, and Gail Sutton, Chief Operating Officer at HRI, created the program, called Oysters in the Classroom.

The program provides live oysters harvested off of a local man-made reef to classrooms. These oysters are cared for by the students as a unique class pet, and they feed the oysters thick mixtures of phytoplankton, watching as the filter feeders slowly clear the water in the saltwater aquarium that the project provides for each classroom. They also learn basic science with the aid of the oysters.

“Each class is provided with the materials: an aquarium, salt water mix, water quality test kits, oyster larvae and phytoplankton to grow, observe and perform experiments on oysters in their classrooms,” said Sutton.

“Students measure water quality, design and perform numerous experiments, and watch the oysters develop and grow from larvae to adults.”

Oysters in the Classroom reaches out to local students each spring. This year, the program visited the Fulton Learning Center and worked with fifth graders there.

The students monitored and cared for the oysters during their science lab. At the end of the school year, the oysters are placed back onto their originating reef.

Oysters in the Classroom is associated with the “Sink your Shucks” Oyster Recycling Program founded in 2009 by HRI, which partners with local seafood restaurants to place shucked oyster shells back in the marine environment to help rebuild historical reefs.

“Oysters in the Classroom generates meaningful education experiences for students and create stronger connections to their local environment,” said Sutton. “The activities and materials assist teachers in better utilizing the local environment as a teaching and learning tool.”

This program is funded through a grant provided by the Texas General Land Office’s Coastal Management Program.

TEACHER EXPEDITION A group of Texas teachers ditched their textbooks for a week of hands-on field science experience during the Harte Research Institute’s first-ever Coast to Classroom Teacher Expedition, a unique workshop pairing teachers with scientists to explore south Texas’ diverse coastal environments.

“Our kids know more about coral reefs and the rainforest than they know about the Texas coast,” said Jay Tarkington, Outreach Program Director with the TAMU-CC Center for Coastal Studies, who managed the workshop.

“A big part of this expedition was to get these teachers out into the field to highlight our Texas coastal wetlands.

We wanted to show these teachers environmental changes along the Texas coast, but we also want to provide them with educational materials, things that can help them when they return to school in the fall.”

The goal of the Coast to Classroom program was to provide Texas science teachers with an opportunity to work one-on-one with coastal scientists in the field. The teachers began their five-day journey in Freeport, Texas, in the early morning hours of Monday, June 22, and traveled down the coast, stopping in the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, Port Aransas and the Laguna Madre for field science and lectures on Texas natural history. The trip gave teachers a first-hand view of South Texas’ diverse coastal environments, including its bays, estuaries, tidal inlets and wetlands. Teachers went birding, kayaking, collected water and sediment samples, and analyzed water quality.

Rachael Diaz, a high school science teacher with Dr. M.L. Garza-Gonzalez Charter School in Corpus Christi, said that despite living only a short distance from the Gulf of Mexico, many of her students have never seen it.

“I definitely see the need to take our children into the estuaries to experience them firsthand,” Diaz said. “Exploring the coast and learning how the individual environments connect teaches you how important they are.”

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Speakers joined the cruise to address coastal geology, history, water quality, sea level changes, marine industry, and law. The teachers also learned about a variety of coastal habitats, including the salt marsh, mangroves, sea grasses, tidal flats and the benthic communities living in the sediment. Dr. Richard A. Davis, visiting HRI professor, served as lecturer-in-residence.

Along with their scientific guides, teachers engaged with science curriculum expert Dr. Mary Ann Davis to take what they learn in the field and apply it to their classrooms. Davis, a certified teacher with a doctorate in science education and a master’s in Marine Botany from the University of South Florida, provided teachers with a set of science tools and resources that they could bring back to their home schools to get students engaged with the coastal environment.

Davis hoped that a unique, hands-on experience would infuse enthusiasm back into burned out teachers who had recently exited the classroom after a long school year, and only have a short break before they delve back into lesson planning for next year.

“These teachers have been working all year and they’re mentally exhausted,” Davis said. “After taking this cruise, they are energized and excited to be working on new lesson plans to get ready for the fall. And they’re hooked into a new network of teachers both on and off the coast that they can draw on as resources.”

Gillian Domingue, a 7th grade life sciences teacher at Cade Middle School in Victoria, Texas, said she was looking for a summertime professional development workshop that would help bring new activities to her classroom.

“This seemed like a great way to bring local and regional ecology to the forefront,” Domingue said. “If you can educate children on the characteristics of their local environment, they’ll learn to take better care of it, and protect it.”

The 2015 Coast to Classroom Teacher Expedition was made possible by the Ed Rachal Foundation and the Harte Research Support Foundation.

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R E A C H I N G

O U T

OPEN SPACES Harte Research Institute (HRI) joined with two other regional institutions to present the “Water, Wildlife and Wide Open Spaces – A Texas Summit on Climate and the Environment” conference held November 2014 in San Marcos, Texas.

MCWE expert scientists or their invited speakers on Texas aquatic resources, instream flows and droughts, droughts and aquatic life and water education. Following the freshwater session, CKWRI experts or their invited speakers hosted a “Terrestrial” session and presented on weather and climate effects on terrestrial vegetation, large mammals, grassland-shrubland birds and aquifer recharge issues.

The conference focused on water availability, drought, extreme weather events, conserving Texas rivers, landscapes and coastal ecosystems. The audience, which included about 130 people, was actively engaged in the conference by asking questions and by engaging in discussions with panel speakers during an interactive breakfast and an evening reception.

The next day HRI endowed chairs Dr. Paul Montagna, Dr. Richard McLaughlin, Dr. Greg Stunz and Research Scientist Dr. Eleonor Taylor, spoke at a session on the “Texas Coast and Gulf,” addressing freshwater inflows to estuaries, legal and policy implications of rising sea level on the Texas coast, how much freshwater an estuary needs, and sea level on the Texas coast, respectively.

The conference began with speeches from the directors of each of the three hosting institutes: Dr. Larry McKinney from HRI, Dr. Fred Bryant from Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute at Texas A&M UniversityKingsville (CKWRI) and Dr. Andy Sansom from the Meadows Center for Water and the Environment at Texas State University (MCWE). Keynote speakers included Laura Huffman, State Director of Texas for The Nature Conservancy, and Evelyn Browning-Garriss, Editor of the Browning Newsletter.

Other supporters of the conference included the Caesar Kleberg Foundation for Wildlife Conservation and the RCN CE3SAR South Texas research network that aggregates regional capacities specific to sustainability in semiarid climates contiguous to the Gulf of Mexico.

To view meeting information and Power Point presentations for each speaker, please visit the conference website: waterwildlifeconference.org.

The first afternoon session, which was dedicated to “Texas Headwaters and Rivers,” included talks by

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MEXICAN ENERGY REFORM

ASBPA SYMPOSIUM

Two HRI scientists were among the leading experts from government, industry and academia who met in Houston on Feb. 12, 2015, to discuss Mexico’s new energy policy and the opportunities and challenges it creates for international engagement in the Gulf of Mexico.

More than 65 members of the American Shore and Beach Preservation Association’s (ASBPA) Texas chapter attended the organization’s first technical symposium on March 25, 2015, hosted by HRI.

The meeting came on the heels of Mexico President Enrique Peña Nieto’s proposal of sweeping energy reforms to revitalize his country’s domestic energy industry. The conference, entitled “Mexico’s Energy Reform: Opportunities and Challenges for International Engagement in the Gulf of Mexico,” explored how changes in exploration and development activity in Mexican waters could redefine how oil and gas is developed and produced in the Gulf of Mexico.

Dr. Larry McKinney, HRI Executive Director, facilitated a discussion on transboundary hydrocarbon issues that focused on exploration, production and spill response. As part of that panel, Dr. Richard McLaughlin, HRI Endowed Chair for Coastal and Marine Policy and Law, addressed the international legal issues including exclusive economic zones, international rules regarding transboundry resources and the 2012 Transboundary Agreement.

Other discussion topics included: • The state of reform efforts in Mexico • The potential impact of reforms on the recently approved transboundary hydrocarbon agreement • The reforms as a catalyst for transboundary cooperation in oil and gas • The prospect of common safety and environmental expectations • Emerging regulatory opportunities The conference was sponsored by the Baker Institute’s Center for Energy Studies and Mexico Center at Rice University in conjunction with the American Petroleum Institute, the Center for Offshore Safety, the Center for U.S. and Mexican Law at the University of Houston, Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi and the Woodrow Wilson Center’s Mexico Institute.

EXPLORERS CLUB OF TEXAS “We don’t know as much about the Gulf of Mexico as we thought we did, but we are learning.” That was the message HRI Executive Director Dr. Larry McKinney delivered to more than 30 members of the Texas Chapter of the Explorers Club “Balance in Blue” Conference held Jan. 16–18, 2015, at Harte Research Institute.

The conference, which focused on sustainable methods of preserving and harnessing the resources of the world’s oceans, brought together scientists to discuss exploration, resource access and utilization, and the implementation of policies and practices that propagate effective balanced protection of the oceans.

Following McKinney’s overview of HRI’s trans-disciplinary approach to research, several HRI scientists addressed the group, including Drs. Greg Stunz, Paul Montagna, Jim Gibeaut and Sylvia Earle. Dr. Wes Tunnell led a Sunday field trip to Padre Island National Seashore.

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Dr. Richard Davis, HRI Visiting Research Associate and a coastal geologist who specializes in beaches, barrier islands and tidal inlets, organized the meeting, held in HRI’s Multipurpose Room. The program included 16 oral and five poster presentations, all focused on the Texas coast. HRI scientists Drs. James Gibeaut and Davis, Dr. Philippe Tissot with the Department of Phyiscal and Environmental Sciences at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, and Dr. Jerry Mohn, president of ASBPA’s Texas Chapter, chaired the meeting’s four sessions.

The ASBPA was founded in 1926 to combat erosion, a serious problem in many coastal areas. In recent years, the association has expanded to include a broad range of activities and interests related to the overall planning and management of shores and beaches.

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P E O P L E

DR. DAVID YOSKOWITZ NAMED NOAA CHIEF ECONOMIST

Dr. David Yoskowitz, Associate Director and Endowed Chair for Socio-Economics, returned to Harte Research Institute (HRI) this summer after a one-year appointment as Chief Economist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Ad-

Yoskowitz also served as co-chair for the task force responsible for a White House report supporting the integration of coastal green infrastructure like wetlands and reefs into risk-reduction strategies, resilience planning and decision-making. The report, released in September, recommends prioritized areas for federal research to support coastal green infrastructure that will enhance the coastal United States’ natural defenses, particularly as climate change will contribute to an increased frequency and intensity of weather events.

ministration (NOAA).

What was it like promoting social sciences at an agency traditionally known for its work in fields like marine science and meteorology? Out of about 19,000 NOAA employees and federal contractors, Yoskowitz said, there were about 250 people purely focused on social science and policy.

Yoskowitz said his time in Washington, D.C. gave him a glimpse into the importance of conducting and presenting research in way that aligns with policy needs. It’s an idea that reinforces the institute’s mission to develop science-driven solutions for problems impacting the longterm economic and environmental sustainability of the Gulf of Mexico.

Yoskowitz was tasked with chairing the team that developed a vision and strategy for integrating social science across the agency’s many sectors with existing resources.

That final report — which included goals to use social science to better define and measure the agency’s impact on communities; better assess and communicate risk; and to strengthen the agency’s mission — was delivered on his last day in office.

“It’s not changing the science; it’s changing how it’s packaged so that it doesn’t just sit on a shelf somewhere,” Yoskowitz said. “That’s the experience I took home, and I think it will be a benefit to HRI and the University.”

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DR. PAUL MONTAGNA GULF OF MEXICO PROGRAM

Dr. Paul Montagna, HRI Endowed Chair for Ecosystems and Modeling, has been appointed to the Gulf of Mexico Program monitoring committee.

continue to threaten the long-term health and productivity of the ecosystem. In particular, the committee is identifing effective approaches for monitoring and evaluating restoration activities.

The Gulf of Mexico Program, a non-regulatory program initiated in 1988 by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, applies an adaptive management approach to large coastal freshwater and marine ecosystems, facilitating collaborative actions to protect, maintain and restore the health and productivity of the Gulf of Mexico. The Gulf of Mexico Program monitoring committee works under the auspices of the National Research Council.

During Montagna’s one-year tenure, the committee will be monitoring and evaluating restoration activities in the Gulf of Mexico conducted in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

The monitoring committee is also looking at factors like climate change, habitat loss and ocean acidification that

DR. WES TUNNELL

Tunnell arrived at the “Island University” in 1974 and soon after founded the Center for Coastal Studies, the University’s first scientific research center. In August 2001, he was named Associate Director of the newly endowed Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies and was instrumental in developing all aspects of HRI — from helping design the $18 million facility, to developing the University’s first science Ph.D. Program, to supporting HRI researchers and research programs. Currently, Tunnell serves as HRI’s Endowed Chair of Biodiversity and Conservation.

EMERITUS AWARDED TO TUNNELL The Texas A&M University System Board of Regents conferred emeritus status on Dr. John “Wes” Tunnell in recognition of more than four decades of distinguished service to Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi.

Tunnell is a marine ecologist and biologist focusing primarily on coastal and coral reef ecosystems. He has extensive expertise working on coastal ecology of Texas, seashells of the Gulf of Mexico, the environmental impacts of marine oil spills and coral reef ecology in Mexico, although he has also studied reefs in the Persian Gulf, Great Barrier Reef, Panama, Honduras, Netherland Antilles, Palau, Indonesia and Okinawa. In addition, Dr. Tunnell has studied and published on vertebrate fossils from the seabed, sponges, brachiopods, seabirds, and Gulf of Mexico biodiversity.

Tunnell has published extensively, authoring five books and more than 100 papers on topics related to the Gulf of Mexico. Before retiring from teaching in 2013, Tunnell advised or co-advised 63 master’s, six doctoral and four post-doctoral students. He has also developed and taught 18 courses at the undergraduate and graduate level, including taking students on an annual field expedition to study coral reefs on the Caribbean coast of Mexico.

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COASTAL ARCHEOLOGY HRI’s Dr. Wes Tunnell and his son Jace Tunnell recently published a book documenting the pioneering coastal archeology work of two of their forefathers, Harold F. Pape and Dr. John W. Tunnell.

Entitled, “Pioneering Archaeology in the Texas Coastal Bend: The Pape-Tunnell Collection,” the new book includes maps, sketches and written descriptions that provide a look into the 10,000-year history of Native American habitation in the Coastal Bend.

Wes Tunnell is HRI Endowed Chair for Biodiversity and Conservation Science and Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi Professor Emeritus. Jace Tunnell is Director of the Mission-Aransas National Estuarine Reserve. Together they organized information on more than 200 coastal archaeological sites studied by Pape, Wes’ stepgrandfather, and Wes’ father, John W. Tunnell, M.D., between 1927 and 1944.

The book is number 26 in the Gulf Coast Books series sponsored by Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi and published by Texas A&M University Press.

SPOTLIGHT ON OUR STAFF LUZ LUMB Luz Lumb, a Research Assistant in HRI’s Coastal and Marine Geospatial Lab, served as a Coastal Conservation Intern with Audubon Texas.

During the internship, she developed a model to assess erosion risk to the approximately 150 rookery islands along the Texas Gulf Coastal Waterway.

Lumb graduated from Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi in December 2014 with a Master of Science in Environmental Science.

After graduating, she began at HRI as a Research Assistant working on the Living with Sea Level Rise in Texas project, which is developing GIS data for modeling the geographic changes expected from sea level rise.

TERRY PALMER In 2015, HRI Research Associate Terry Palmer made his 11th trip to conduct environmental monitoring at Palmer Station, one of two U.S. Antarctic research stations.

The team of Texas A&M researchers spent four weeks from April 12 to May 7 enduring a wind chill of 6° F and experiencing day lengths as short as 7 hours. They collected samples of ocean floor sediment and tissues of organisms and monitored the chemistry, macrofauna communities, sediment toxicity, and animal tissue chemistry to determine the presence and extent of pollution.

During this most recent research trip, Palmer logged photos and videos of glaciers, seals, snowy sheathbills and penguins on social media.

You can see them on Facebook and Instagram @IslandtoIce. 17

SPOTLIGHT ON OUR STUDENTS Three HRI graduate students were named as 2015 USDA Graduate Fellows. The students, Maria Rodriguez, Mayra Lopez and Melinda Martinez, were three of 20 recipients selected from across the nation to attend a Career Preparation Institute held March 11–14, 2015, in Frisco, Texas.

Additionally, the students and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi were publicly recognized during the American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education annual meeting on March 12, 2015.

MARIA RODRIGUEZ Rodriguez works in the Coastal Conservation and Restoration Ecology Lab at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and is focused on the oyster disease, Dermo, which is caused by a protozoan parasite. Her research will aid in understanding the ecological implications of reduced freshwater inflow to bays and estuaries due to climate change.

MAYRA LOPEZ Lopez, a Graduate Research Assistant at Harte Research Institute, is focused on understanding socio-economic processes and how they drive environmental education, management and policy. This knowledge can be used to comprehend how the public’s perception of ecosystem services can affect natural resource management and economical/ecological resilience. Lopez is also involved in several community outreach events that encourage young, underprivileged students to pursue the STEM fields for their college education.

MELINDA MARTINEZ Martinez conducts research at HRI, focusing on short-term wetland sediment accretion rates on Mustang Island, Texas. She volunteers in the Corpus Christi area with the Texas High School Coastal Monitoring Program to help engage students in coastal research by teaching them how to measure beach profiles and observe the beach and dune environment.

REACHING MILESTONES The Harte Research Institute congratulates the following students for reaching educational milestones during fall 2014 and spring/summer 2015: DOCTORATE Evan Turner, Ph.D. in Coastal Marine System Science under Dr. Paul Montagna Anthony Reisinger, Ph.D. in Coastal Marine System Science under Dr. James Gibeaut MASTER’S DEGREE Kevin Eager, Master of Science in Environmental Science under Dr. Wes Tunnell Phil Jose, Master of Science in Marine Biology under Dr. Greg Stunz Peter Young, Master of Science in Fisheries and Mariculture under Dr. Greg Stunz Luz Lumb, Master of Science in Environmental Science under Dr. James Gibeaut Sarah Braddy, Master of Science in Environmental Science under Dr. David Yoskowitz BACHELOR’S DEGREE David Norris, Bachelor of Science in Biology under Dr. Greg Stunz Alex Thompkins, Bachelor of Science in Biology under Dr. Greg Stunz 18

P A R T N E R S H I P S

DISCOVERY CHANNEL SHARK WEEK “Shark Week” may only come once a year, but tagging, tracking and studying sharks is a full-time job for researchers at Harte Research Institute’s Center for Sportfish Science and Conservation (CSSC).

In “Monster Mako,” TV viewers saw exciting footage of scientists tagging Makos with some of the latest scientific equipment and cameras. CSSC runs a number of tagging programs to monitor shark populations in the Gulf of Mexico, and has tagged thousands of sharks to help fill information gaps about their lives in the Gulf.

In 2015, scientists with the CSSC set out with Discovery Channel’s “Shark Week” crew on a 10-day expedition to tag and study the Shortfin Mako shark, one of the fastest shark species in the world, for a special called “Monster Mako.” The show, which aired July 5, 2015, helped open the 28th season of “Shark Week” with unprecedented footage of scientific discovery and behaviors of Makos in their natural habitat.

HRI’s state-of-the-art system of tagging allows scientists to track sharks in real time. The center has partnered with the Texas State Aquarium and the nonprofit OCEARCH to attach satellite tags to Hammerhead, Mako and Tiger Sharks, with plans to tag more in the future. The tag, which is attached to the shark’s fin, pings with a location each time the shark surfaces. This provides swift and accurate information about the shark’s current location, which is uploaded to a digital map so millions of shark fans can follow the shark’s movements online. An interactive exhibit at the Texas State Aquarium features this work.

“Sharks play an important role in our ecosystem by keeping things in check. And we know that when we remove these apex predators it can cause things to go out of balance,” said Dr. Greg Stunz, CSSC Director and HRI Chair for Fisheries and Ocean Health. “We know that shark populations are decreasing worldwide due to overfishing and other threats. We are seeing bright spots of recovery in many areas, but we still have a long way to go.”

Scientists took their tagging work a step further for “Shark Week,” and employed a brand-new technology known as the “Shark Eye.” Scientists tagged nine Makos

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with state-of-the-art scientific instrumentation, including front and rear cameras equipped with night vision, and equipment to track the shark’s movement, depth, speed and acceleration. The instrumentation was designed to release from the shark after a day so scientists could retrieve the data. The goal was to capture the behavior of the Mako, a shark that tends to stay out at sea, and to measure its speed and acceleration.

NOAA EDUCATIONAL PARTNERSHIP HRI students Elena Kobrinski, and Mayra Lopez presented their research at the NOAA Educational Partnership Program’s 7th Annual Biennial Education and Science Forum in October 2015 at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore.

Kobrinski, who is a doctoral student under Richard McLaughlin in HRI’s Marine Policy and Law group, was an Oral Presentation Award Winner for her presentation titled: “Oil Rig Decommissioning in the Gulf of Mexico: Policy, Socio-Economic and Environmental Issues.”

Lopez, who is a master’s student under David Yoskowitz in HRI’s Socio-Economics group, was an Oral Presentation Award Winner for her presentation titled: “Using Social Valuation to Identify and Manage the Ecosystem Services in the Mission-Aransas National Estuarine Research Reserve, Texas.”

Both Kobrinski and Lopez are NOAA Environmental Cooperative Science Center students, and were winners in the NOAA Mission Goal category of “Resilient Coastal Communities and Economies.”

OCEAN EXPLORATION TRUST HRI student Melinda Martinez was awarded an Ocean Science and Mapping intern position with Ocean Exploration Trust aboard the Exploration Vessel Nautilus.

The Ocean Exploration Trust internship program is competitive, awarding a limited number of internship positions each year. One internship position is reserved for a representative of NOAA’s Cooperative Science Centers. Martinez represented NOAA Environmental Cooperative Science Center (ECSC) as an Ocean Science and Mapping intern. Aboard the Nautilus, she assisted in data management during dives by recording operational events, taking captures from the ROV cameras, logging samples obtained during dives and participating in scientific discussions by answering Nautilus viewer questions.

Martinez participated in the Gulf of Mexico expedition May 13– 19, 2015, and the California Borderlands expedition August 11–19, 2015. During the Gulf of Mexico trip, she explored seafloor habitats at mid-slope and lower slope depths, including hard substrate coral habitats, hydrocarbon seeps, mud volcanoes, and brine pools. During the California Borderlands trip, she explored previously unstudied regions to improve understanding of the offshore extent of submerged geohazards.

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H A R T E ’ S

H E R O E S

HARTE’S HEROS 2015 Five champions who have dedicated their careers to ensuring the long-term sustainable use and conservation of the Gulf of Mexico were honored with the 2015 “Harte’s Heroes” Award.

of Mexico in particular,” said HRI Executive Director Larry McKinney. “We take so much for granted when it comes to our oceans. We do our share of abuse, but the Gulf still produces more than $1.4 billion of seafood annually and will continue to do so as long as it remains healthy. The individuals we honor this year are some of those who are helping to keep the Gulf healthy and productive.”

Each year, Harte Research Institute commemorates “World Oceans Day” in June by recognizing individuals and groups that have demonstrated passion for protecting and preserving the vast natural resources of the world’s ninth-largest body of water, the Gulf of Mexico. The 2015 honorees were chosen for following the simple but transformational directive of HRI’s founder, newspaper magnate and environmentalist Ed Harte, whose instructions were simply to “make a difference.”

“It is the dedication and hard work of these unsung heroes and countless others like them that have kept the Gulf alive,” said McKinney. “I have had the privilege of knowing these individuals for many years and have been inspired by their unflagging energy and singleness of purpose. It is my pleasure and a great honor to give them the recognition they so richly deserve.”

“It’s important that we recognize these individuals who have done so much for our oceans, and the Gulf

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U.S. Ocean Action Plan. He served four presidential administrations on the Secretary of the Interior’s Outer Continental Shelf Policy Committee. In 2001, President George Bush appointed him to the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy, which developed recommendations for a comprehensive national ocean policy.

DR. MICHAEL CARRON Dr. Michael Carron, Director of the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative (GoMRI), administers $500 million in BP funds granted to the Gulf of Mexico Alliance in response to destruction caused by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Since 2011, he has overseen the research of more than 120 universities that are studying the spill’s environmental effects and developing improvements for spill mitigation, oil detection and remediation technologies. From 2007-2011, he served as Director of the Northern Gulf Institute consortium.

RAUL RODRIGUEZ Raul Rodriguez is Co-Chair of HRI’s International Committee and Chairman of the Board of the U.S.Mexico Foundation, a leader in binational cooperation in education and civic engagement. He is a graduate of Harvard University and Monterrey Tech where he now serves as Associate Vice President for International Affairs. At Harvard, he was recognized with the Littauer Fellow award for his “commitment to excellence, academic achievement, and public service.”

SUSAN KADERKA Susan Kaderka, Regional Executive Director of the National Wildlife Federation’s South Central Center, oversees conservation and environmental education initiatives in seven states, including Texas. She has led NWF’s advocacy on behalf of the post-Deepwater Horizon restoration of coastal Louisiana, served on the Louisiana Governor’s Advisory Commission on Coastal Restoration and Conservation and sought federal support for an ecosystem-scale restoration program for the area.

DR. ANDREW SANSOM Dr. Andrew Sansom, Executive Director of the Meadows Center for Water and the Environment at Texas State University-San Marcos, is a leading advocate for the study of freshwater resources that flow into the Gulf of Mexico. As founder of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation, he is responsible for the acquisition and protection of more than 500,000 acres of conservation lands in Texas.

PAUL KELLY Paul Kelly serves on the Joint Ocean Commission Initiative and on the Ocean Research and Resources Advisory Panel, providing independent advice under the

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S C I E N C E B Y N U M B E R S

HRI has experienced tremendous annual growth as it continues building on its mission to provide sciencedriven solutions for Gulf of Mexico problems. The institute devotes tens of millions of dollars, the majority of its budget, to high quality research dedicated to ad-

T H E

vancing the long-term sustainable use and conservation of the Gulf. Those resources are also devoted to providing a rigorous, multidisciplinary training environment, enabling our students to become the next generation of researchers devoted to a sustainable Gulf of Mexico.

$12.3M

9 66 63 HOW WE PUT IT TO WORK

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OPERATING BUDGET(FY 2015)

SENIOR LEADERS

RESEARCH PROJECTS 23

HOW WE INVEST

Engagement

OUR REVENUE SOURCES

Research

Admin

Grants/ Contracts

Private

State

GROWTH IN OPERATING BUDGET $ in millions 13M 12M 9M 6M 3M 0M

2010

2011

2012

2013

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2014

2015

O U R

S U P P O R T

PARTNERS OF HRI Mr. Paul Altheide Amanda and Rob Brock Mr. and Mrs. Tim Buffington Mr. John Carlson Peggy and Bill Clark Mr. and Mrs. Bill Cohen Jim Copeland Mr. and Mrs. John Crutchfield Uzi Daniel Cosmo and Barbara D’Aquila Dr. James Dinn and Mrs. Paige Dinn Mr. and Mrs. Steve Dutton Dr. Sylvia Earle Mrs. Blair Fitzsimons Katy and Ted Flato Ruth and Dan Flournoy Mr. and Mrs. Rob Fondren Caroline Forgason Dr. and Mrs. Robert Furgason

Donald E. Ganer Terence Greene Augusta Gross and Leslie Samuels Mrs. Helen Groves Mr. Brian Hanson Pam and Will Harte Mr. and Mrs. Hayden W. Head Mr. and Mrs. Greg W. Hickman Tim and Karen Hixon Mr. and Mrs. Jonathan Hornblower Mr. Lee Jordan Susan Lelansky Mr. and Mrs. Cappy Lawton Mr. and Mrs. Steve Lewis Mr. Marshall B. Miller and Mrs. Claudia Huntington Mrs. Gerrish Milliken Mr. and Mrs. James R. Montague Mr. Will Ohmstede Elizabeth Harte Owens

Mr. Michael Pedrotti Mr. Phillip Plant Mr. Charles A. Richards, Sr. Mr. and Mrs. Chuck Richards Mrs. Ruth Russell Chula and Ramon Sanchez Dr. Andrew Sansom and Mrs. Nona Sansom Mr. and Mrs. William Scanlan Michael Starek Mr. and Mrs. George Vaughan Ronald A. Voss Dr. Sam Walker and Mrs. Meredith Walker Dr. Richard L. Watson Alison Whelan Mike and Pam Williams Julia Harte Widdowson and Nigel Widdowson Mr. and Mrs. Chuck Wiel

PARTNERS OF HRI George and Mary Josephine Hamman Foundation Groomer’s Seafood Harte Charitable Foundation Harte Research Support Foundation International Union for Conservation of Nature Monday Forum Orion Drilling Company Richard Lounsbery Foundation

Rotary Club of Corpus Christi Texas Parks & Wildlife Department Sharkathon The John M. O’Quinn Foundation Shield-Ayres Foundation The Meadows Foundation Shimano American Corporation The Trull Foundation South Texas Money Management, Ltd. (in honor of Paul T.L.L. Temple Foundation Kelly from Harte’s Heroes) WaterStreet Seafood Restaurants Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi Texas A&M University Research Foundation

EMPLOYEES OF HRI Kathryn Gerard James Gibeaut Larry McKinney Richard McLaughlin

Paul Montagna Fabio Moretzsohn Greg Stunz Gail Sutton

John Wood Dave Yoskowitz Wes Tunnell

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F L O W E R

G A R D E N

B A N K S

Once someone experiences the Flower Gardens, there is no question as to why this site has been established as a National Marine Sanctuary. The coral coverage on the reef is impressive and the diversity of coral and sponges create a beautiful display, accented by colorful fishes and marine life. The opportunity to witness large animal life is also an appeal associated with the Flower Gardens. Scuba divers visit and hope to see whale sharks and manta rays and usually return from the Flower Gardens having seen one of the two species.

BY LAUREN HUTCHISON

trip, I became especially interested in different types of algae on the reef, like the Green Bubble Weed that looks like a little green blob.

We dove a total of 4 to 5 times per day over a period of 4 days. This amount of diving is exhausting, but worth the effort. The morning dives were my favorite dives of the trip this year. They are so peaceful. The sun is rising and the fish are moving slowly as they awake from their slumber. Usually, the current hasn’t picked up yet and it is especially easy to glide over the coral and observe fish as they start their days. On each of the morning dives, I had the pleasure of seeing a manta ray. Spending time in the water with a manta ray never gets old. They move through the water with such grace and as they glide past you, time seems to slow down.

The Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies (HRI) recognizes the uniqueness of the Flower Gardens and sponsors an annual expedition for students, staff and special friends to visit this national treasure.

HRI’s expedition to the Flower Gardens is timed to coincide with the annual coral spawning event that occurs 7-10 days after the full moon in August. Although I have been to the Flower Gardens several times before, each trip is a new experience for me. I am grateful for the opportunity to participate in this year’s coral spawn expedition and hope to continue to partake in the Flower Gardens cruise as long as I am associated with HRI. Each trip, I get more comfortable in the water, improve my videography skills, and am able to identify more species.

Each dive is a different experience. On some dives, I hang out in sand patches and observe critters that live on the sea floor. The yellowhead jawfish are especially fun to watch as they dance above their burrows and eat food as it passes by. On other dives, I find myself captivated by schools of silvery fishes and how they respond to each other and environmental stimuli such as passing divers or fish. Sometimes, I try to move smoothly into the schools of fish and occasionally manage to become surrounded by their glittering bodies.

The night dives are in a league of their own. Diving into pitch black water is exciting and a bit spooky. As you descend, the bottom slowly comes into view. The species on the reef at night are different than the species you see during the day. Compared to their daytime counterparts, these species seem unfamiliar and more alien in nature. At night, you see many kinds of urchins, sea stars and sea cucumbers crawling around at a slow, almost eerie pace. At times, you feel movement around you, but by the time you shine your light in the direction of the movement, nothing is there. I find it especially fun to turn my light off and observe the bioluminescence around me. On my way back to the boat, I always take time to turn my light off, wave my hands around, kick my feet as hard as I can, and see how sparkly I can make the water become.

We travel out to the Flower Gardens on a charter boat called the Fling, which departs from Freeport, Texas in the evening and travels east overnight into the blue waters of the Gulf of Mexico. We arrive at the first dive site, approximately 100 miles offshore, early in the morning. The crew on the Fling hasn’t changed much over the years. John and his daughter Wendy keep us well fed, with food after every dive and dessert after every meal.

JT and Matthew keep us safe by helping us in and out of the water and always making sure we are accounted for and in good health. Before each dive, JT goes down to lay out all of the lines, check the conditions, and entice us with rumors of what is below. Sometimes, he sees big sharks and mantas and other times, he speaks of little fish he has come to know as individuals. And, then there is Captain Bland, who is always there to make sure we stay on course and are entertained.

This year, I had an amazing coral spawning experience.

Toward the end of our dive, my dive buddy and I stayed at one very large coral head for almost 10 minutes. We watched it release its eggs and stayed to watch other corals around it swell and start to release their eggs as well.

As we made our way back toward the boat, the coral was spawning all around us. If only we had more air and could have stayed down for a bit longer. On the surface, the smell of fish was very strong and there was a large slick of eggs next to the boat. This experience is one of the most amazing experiences of my life, which is why it is hard for me to pass up a Coral Spawn Expedition.

I love being at sea, even though it takes me a while to get used to the rocking and rolling of the boat. I always come back to shore with cuts and bruises and a stronger sense of self. There is so much to see, both above and below the surface. The stars are beautiful out in the middle of the Gulf, like no night sky I have seen on land. And, the view beneath the water is spectacular. I am always amazed at the amount of coral coverage at the Flower Gardens and the many types of beautifully colored sponges and algae add to its uniqueness. This 26

Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi 6300 Ocean Drive, Unit 5869 Corpus Christi, TX 78412 (361) 825-2000 www.harteresearchinstitute.org