In June of 2011, Teens4Oceans brought down a 20-person group to Key Largo, Florida comprised of T4O student representatives, parents, and dive instructors to complete the second part of the Aquarius Install Project. In addition to focusing on the deployment of our two PTZ high-definition cameras on the Aquarius Reef Base, Teens4Oceans was busy getting more of its students PADI certified. With the help of Ocean First Divers, Teens4Oceans got eight of its students PADI Advanced Open Water certified, as well as two students PADI Open Water certified. In addition, Teens4Oceans was ecstatic to be joined by two students and their instructor from the New York Harbor School, which is situated on Governor’s Island. The relationship between Teens4Oceans and the New York Harbor School began in May of 2011 during the Blue Vision Summit Conference located in Washington, D.C. Cesar Gutierrez, Jericsson Pichardo, and their instructor Joe Gessert were extremely helpful and an important addition to the Teens4Oceans crew.
Prior to the install, the group visited the onshore Aquarius Control Station, and was briefed for the upcoming dives on the Aquarius site. In addition to the amazing dives on the Aquarius Reef Base, the group dove on a shipwreck called the U.S.S. Spiegel Grove, and on numerous reefs located near the Key Largo area. For most of the students, the dive on U.S.S. Spiegal Grove resulted in the deepest depth of their scuba diving career, some students getting to depths of over 100 feet below the surface. With the certifications complete and the two cameras deployed, the group ventured south to Bahia Honda, Florida on the last day. After arriving, a transect survey of the reef was conducted as well as a maintenance check to the Teens4Oceans camera located there. The trip was extremely successful on many fronts and T4O is thrilled to use these cameras as lenses into the ocean, allowing us to produce unique educational material for students of all ages. Finally, Teens4Oceans looks forward to continuing to build its relationship with the New York Harbor School and all the amazing people involved there.
T4O Aquarius June Installation from Teens4Oceans on Vimeo.
T4O Aquarius December Survey from Teens4Oceans on Vimeo.
Milk Conch Project: Bahia Honda Key, Florida.
Marine organisms are being trapped and killed in holes on the sea floor around pilings on the Bahia Honda Bridge in the Florida Keys. Built in 1972, as many as twenty of roughly 1,000 pilings have these holes surrounding them. These holes cause great loss of marine life especially to the milk conch (Strombus costatus), which are un able to climb or swim out. This occurs within a National Marine Sanctuary and is a preventable loss that can be easily remedied by filling the holes with any form of sediment substantial enough to not be displaced by strong currents.
Don Demaria, a local researcher, dives these pilings, at times pulling 40 living milk conchs from just one of these holes only to return one week later to find more living conchs in them. He describes them as “death traps for the milk conch” approximately 1ft wide and 3ft deep and estimates that they have killed thousands of milk conchs since their creation. The shells of dead conchs are not suitable for backfill since they are washed out by the strong currents, thus further action is needed.
Teens4Oceans learned of this issue in October of 2010 after being contacted by Don when his letters to the National Marine Sanctuaries, NOAA, and FDOT (Florida Department of Transportation) were received but went without subsequent action. Teens4Oceans has arranged a partnership with the National Marine Sanctuaries and FDOT to alleviate this unacceptable situation, provide proper permitting and permanently fill these holes decades since their creation. Pending the completion of this project, any further loss of milk conchs due to piling holes at the Bahia Honda Bridge should be alleviated.
In June of 2011, divers performed a survey of the entire Bahia Honda Bridge piling system (called bents). Teens4oceans is currently preparing a report that will be submitted to the National Marine Sanctuaries. Of most concern to the staff and students of T4O was the presence of Queen Conchs in the entrapments. This species, Strombus gigas, is a protected species that has faced peril from overfishing for decades. We hope that bridge repairs can occur quickly to avoid the loss of further organisms.
New SCUBA program: Boulder, Colorado
In cooperation with Ocean First Divers in Boulder, Colorado, Teens4Oceans students are completing the SCUBA open water diving course. As Teens4Oceans investigates prospective deep water installation zones, the necessity of scuba certification becomes ever more apparent. Between March 26th through April 2nd, students completed the certification process in Akumal, Mexico. Check out our blog page for images of our trip!
Development of innovative submersible technologies: Wild Goose Engineering, Boulder, Colorado
In cooperation with Wild Goose Engineering, Teens4Oceans is developing an improved data collection system. As usual, students are involved every step of the way in the design, construction, and intellectual property pursuit. Features and installation locations of the improved nodes will be released soon!
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