e t w o r k news 



• Portuguese Palate May Solve 

 Lamprey Crisis 



In an eat-what-you-can't-beat 

 strategy, researchers at Minnesota Sea 

 Grant plan to tempt the taste buds of the 

 Portuguese with an exotic invader, the 

 sea lamprey. Most people find the 

 slimy, parasitic organism with the 

 toothy, suction-cup mouth unappetizing. 

 But in Portugal, it is considered a 

 delicacy. 



"The lamprey has been the most 

 disastrous exotic species to invade the 

 Great Lakes," says Jeff Gunderson, a 

 Minnesota Sea Grant researcher. 



Despite years of attempts to 

 eradicate and control the lamprey, the 

 population remains around 600,000, and 

 it has devastated the Great Lakes' trout 

 fishery. The ultimate goal is still 

 eradication, but now fishermen can use 

 the lamprey's culinary value to profit- 

 ably harvest the invader out of exist- 

 ence. 



This summer, 1,000 live specimens 

 will be shipped to Portugal where they 

 will be compared to the native delicacy, 

 a larger relative of the Great Lakes 

 lamprey. The lampreys are shipped alive 

 because they are traditionally prepared 

 in their own blood. 



"We're also going to have a little 

 taste test in Duluth, just to see how 



Americans respond to the way the 

 Portuguese prepare them," Gunderson 

 says. "We're not expecting them to 

 please the palate of Americans, but we 

 just want to see how people react." 



• Unlocking Global Climate 

 Mysteries with a Heat Sensor 



A new Frisbee-sized heat sensor 

 inspired by a Sea Grant project will 

 increase understanding of global and 

 seasonal weather patterns, including 

 conditions that spawn hurricanes. 



Unveiled by University of Wiscon- 

 sin-Madison researcher John Anderson, 

 the heat-flux sensor floats on the water's 

 surface and measures the flow of heat 

 from the ocean to the atmosphere. It then 

 transmits the data to polar-orbiting 

 satellites. The heat-flux sensor was the 

 brainchild of late Wisconsin Sea Grant 

 scientist Verner Suomi, who is credited 

 with developing the technologies that 

 made weather satellites possible. 



Beginning in 1990, Suomi tested 

 dozens of prototype sensors, and after 

 only a year of work declared it an 

 exciting new approach to an important 

 climate observation need. 



Next to clouds, ocean-atmosphere 

 heat exchange is one of the most 

 important variable researchers use in 

 building global climate models. The first 



large-scale deployment of the devices 

 will be part of a major international 

 experiment next winter in the North 

 Atlantic ocean. 



• Jimmy Buffett Speaks 

 for Florida Sea Grant 



Jimmy Buffett is on a new radio 

 station: Florida Sea Grant's Florida Bay 

 Research Radio. 



The musician is speaking out for 

 the environment on Florida Sea Grant's 

 low-power radio, a specialized form of 

 AM radio broadcasting used to provide 

 information to automobile travelers. 

 Airports, universities and even Disney 

 World use low power radio to relay 

 reports about weather, traffic conditions 

 or directions. 



Seeking to educate citizens about 

 the environmental challenges of Florida 

 Bay, Florida Sea Grant has established 

 a low-power radio station that can be 

 received by about 22,000 cars daily as 

 people drive along U.S. 1 between Key 

 Largo and the mainland. 



The station debuted in April with 

 an overview of research designed to 

 unravel the cause of mysterious 

 mangrove deaths in the bay. Pulling 

 listeners directly from their cars and 

 into the environment, a continuous 

 recording describes mangroves for 

 drive-by identification. 



Other research topics have included 

 algal blooms, seagrass die-offs, and the 

 role of fresh water in the health of the 

 bay. Signs posted along the highway 

 alert travelers to the station, which 

 broadcasts at 1610 on the AM dial. 



Buffett, an icon of the Florida 

 Keys, is a longtime advocate of 

 preserving Florida's marine environ- 

 ment. He is supporting the Sea Grant 

 effort with 90-second voice-over 

 introductions stressing the importance 

 of conservation. Future broadcasts will 

 be lengthened to cover more topics and 

 include a weather report from the 

 National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

 Administration. 



24 JULY/ AUGUST 1996 



