Vol. 3, No. 2, 2000-2001

News & Updates

POND, LAKE, RIVER, SEA
By Maryjo Koch

This beautifully illustrated book offers a remarkable perspecitve on the complex network of aquatic lfe ecompassing all water on earth. Maryjo Koch explores the many extrodinary life forms that inhabit the underwater world. From the mythology of marine life to the delicte exosystms of the coral reef, the reader is immersed in stunning images and stories that capture the imagination.

loading an aquaculture setup onto a pickup truck

Aquaculture-in-Action Update

This past October, Aquaculture in Action participants put fish into their systems. Of the 27 schools in the networks, 13 will be raising striped bass this year. Others in the network will be raising tilapia, catfish, bluegill, and trout (just to name a few).

Network coordinators, Adam Frederick and Jackie Takacs of Maryland Sea Grant, have been working with the Horn Point Laboratory, MD Department of Natural Resources and MD Department of Agriculture for the past three years to get fish into classrooms. These parties will be meeting early in 2001 to discuss a proposal to have AinA take the lead in Aquaculture in the Classroom within the State.

This year, because of their outstanding participation in the program, Bob Foor-Houge of South Carroll High School and his students will be caring for STURGEON for the MD DNR.

National Ocean Sciences Bowl

The Consortium for Oceanographic Research and Education (CORE), along with its 61 member institutions and in partnership with the National Marine Educators Association is conducting a national competition for high schools on topics related to the study of oceans: the National Ocean Sciences Bowl.

This competition is intended to increase knowledge of the oceans on the part of high school students, their teachers and parents, as well as to raise the visibility and public understanding of the national investment in ocean-related research. Specific objectives of the National Ocean Science Bowl are to:

Broaden the awareness and understanding of high school students, teachers and parents to the latest scientific research on the oceans and on the critical impact of the oceans on global climate and weather, economic well-being, history and culture;

Create an ideal opportunity to expose teachers to the value and excitement of using the oceans as a tool for both disciplinary and cross-disciplinary science education; teaching biology, physics, chemistry, geology and math integrated into study of the ocean; and,

Provide an opportunity for university oceanographic research programs and facilities to develop new links with the precollege communities in their respective regions.

Now is the time to register for the 2001 National Ocean Science Bowl State competitions. Winning teams will receive an expenses-paid trip to Miami in the spring to compete for the national championship. Other prizes and awards vary among States. For more information about participating in Maryland's NOSB, contact Roberta Hunter, National Aquarium in Baltimore, 410-576-8820.

Attention Exotic Species Fans!!

Microbial Organisms Are Major Constituents of Shipboard Ballast Water

Researchers find large volumes of bacteria and viruses discharged into ports worldwide.

Maryland Sea Grant News Release

Washington, DC. Researchers at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, the Center of Marine Biotechnology of the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute and Old Dominion University are reporting in today's issue (November 2, 2000) of the British journal, Nature, that ballast water discharges by the world's ocean-going ships "create a long-distance dispersal mechanism for human pathogens, and may be important in the worldwide distribution of microorganisms as well as the epidemiology of waterborne diseases affecting plants and animals." It has long been known that such discharges have unintentionally spread plankton, shellfish and fish from one body of water to another, sometimes with major impacts to the receiving ecosystem...

Go to www.mdsg.umd.edu/exotics/news_11_01_00.html for the rest of the story.

For more information on Videos, Fact Sheets, News Releases and Web Sites about exotic species check out:

www.mdsg.umd.edu/exotics