Turtle Journal

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Redfield Podium

Turtle Journal cameras clicked and whirred to the assistance of Massachusetts Marine Educators (MME) on Saturday to document their annual conference at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI).  This traditional event which gathers together marine educators, formal and informal, from across the state has convened at WHOI for more than three decades. 

Exhibit Hall Outside Redfield Auditorium @ WHOI

Attendance has trended downward the last few years and continues a bit sluggish with the economic downturn.  But enthusiasm for the event remains high among the faithful and a few new faces mixed among the crowd of regulars. 

National Marine Life Center Exhibit Table

While Sue Wieber Nourse, a past president and current board member of MME, photo-documented the day at the request of the incoming president, Don Lewis spent time advocating for his current project: building a new marine animal hospital at the National Marine Life Center in Buzzards Bay at the gateway to Cape Cod and North America’s most active stranding hotspot.  He released a new and compelling video, Mass Stranding (click on title), in support of the NMLC mission to restore life to the ocean.  You can see more about the NMLC presentation at the conference at its posting titled NMLC @ Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

Click Here to View Video in High Quality

The first speaker of the day, Dr. Scott Doney from WHOI, presented a talk on Climate Change and the Future of the Oceans in the 21st Century.  The video clip offers a brief snippet of his 45 minute dissertation, followed by a question and answer session.

Click Here to View Video in High Quality

After a panel on marine education, Dr. Michael Moore (WHOI) offered a slide presentation on Using Yesterday’s Tools and Techniques to Conserve Today’s Whales.  From saving stranded dolphins on Cape Cod to disentangling or necropsying large whales at sea, Michael talked about the lessons we had learned from our historic whaling industry and culture, as well as the precision tools and techniques whalers had perfected in pursuit of their trade that would be the envy of today’s seaborne cetacean scientist.

Dr. Michael Moore Receives His Honorary Cod

Michael and Scott both received the ceramic cod, the traditional speaker’s gift from MME created by Grainger Pottery of Marion, Massachusetts.

This entry was posted on Sunday, May 3rd, 2009 at 9:28 pm and is filed under Turtles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.