COASTAL 



TIDINGS 



UNC-W Scientists to Study Coral Reefs 



Tourists exploring the coral reefs that 

 ring the U.S. Virgin Islands discover an 

 underwater scene rich beyond their 

 imagination. The reefs support some 4,000 

 species of fish and 800 species of coral. 



The bad news is that scientists fear the 

 coral reefs and other marine ecosystems in 

 the region are degrading significantly and 

 are in critical need of research. 



The good news is the University of 

 North Carolina at Wilmington will lead a 

 team of universities at a proposed $2 

 million Joint Institute for Caribbean Marine 

 Studies in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Re- 

 searchers will focus on the health of 

 Caribbean coral reefs and related educa- 

 tional and economic opportunities for the 

 region. 



Plans for the institute, a joint effort of 

 the U.S. Department of the Interior and the 

 U.S. Department of Commerce/National 

 Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 



(NOAA), were announced at the U.S. Coral 

 Reef Task Force fall meeting. 



The proposed facility would be on the 

 site of the former West Indies Laboratory, 

 destroyed by Hurricane Hugo in 1989. The 

 plan's wish list calls for research laborato- 

 ries, classrooms, a lecture hall, teaching 

 aquarium, boats and diving equipment, 

 distance-learning equipment, and housing 

 for students, scientists and visitors. UNC-W 

 will administer programs at the institute in 

 collaboration with the University of the 

 Virgin Islands, the University of South 

 Carolina and Rutgers, the state university of 

 New Jersey. 



The consortium will help UNC-W, 

 which has a coral reef program in the 

 Florida Keys, extend its research into the 

 Caribbean. 



UNC-W marine scientists are involved 

 with a number of North Carolina Sea Grant 

 and NOAA-supported programs. — P.S. 



Two Scholars Win Jones Awards 



Two North Carolina 

 Sea Grant scholars have 

 received the Excellence in 

 Coastal and Marine Graduate 

 Study Award as part of the 

 Walter B.Jones Memorial 

 and NOAA Excellence 

 Awards for Coastal and 

 Ocean Resource Manage- 

 ment. 



In honor of the late Rep. 

 Walter B.Jones Sr., NOAA 

 recognizes individuals and 

 organizations for contribu- 

 tions in helping the nation 

 maintain healthy coastal and 

 ocean environments. 



Catherine Wannamaker 

 of Raleigh and David 

 Robinette of Fuquay-Varina 

 received the awards in 

 Washington, D.C. 



Wannamaker is 

 completing ajohn A. Knauss 

 marine policy fellowship with the Senate 

 Committee on Commerce, Science and 



Catherine Wannamaker 



David Robinette 



Transportation. The fellow- 

 ship, which is based in 

 Washington, is sponsored by 

 the National Sea Grant 

 Program. 



Last December, 

 Wannamaker received a 

 master of science degree from 

 North Carolina State Univer- 

 sity. Wannamaker's thesis 

 focused on the "Effects of 

 Hypoxia on Movements and 

 Behavior of Estuarine Species." 



Robinette is a National 

 Research Council Fellow at the 

 U.S. Environmental Protection 

 Agency. In May, he received a 

 Ph.D in comparative biomedi- 

 cal sciences from NC State. 



Robinette's thesis focused 

 on the molecular immunology 

 of nonspecific defenses in fish. 

 During this research, which 

 was funded by Sea Grant, he 

 found a class of antibiotics in fish that had 

 not been identified before. — A.G. 



High School 

 Teams to 

 Compete 

 in Bowl 



High school teams compet- 

 ing in the N.C Ocean Science Bowl 

 on Feb. 26 will be out to unseat 

 two-time champions from 

 Wlliams High School in 

 Burlington. Some 20 teams from 

 across the state are expected to 

 take part in the third annual 

 regional event at North Carolina 

 State University's McKimmon 

 Center. 



The Ocean Science Bowl was 

 inaugurated in 1 998, The Year of 

 the Ocean, as a way to re-energize 

 precollege educational programs in 

 the marine sciences. 



The 2000 state championship 

 team will receive scholarships from 

 NC State's College of Physical and 

 Mathematical Sciences. They also 

 advance to the National Ocean 

 Science Bowl Tournament in 

 Washington, D.C, in April. 



The N.C. Ocean Science Bowl 

 is coordinated by the Consortium 

 for Oceanographic Research and 

 Education (CORE), which includes 

 NC State, East Carolina University, 

 the University of North Carolina at 

 Wlmington and the University of 

 North Carolina at Chapel Hill. 

 Support also comes from North 

 Carolina Sea Grant, the UNC Math 

 and Science Education Network 

 and Centers, the N.C. Coastal 

 Federation and NC State's Science 

 House. 



More information is available 

 on the World Wde Web at: 

 www.meas.ncsu.edu/ncosb. Science 

 teachers interested in future Ocean 

 Bowl activities should contact 

 Carrie Thomas by e-mail at 

 cjthomas@unity. ncsu.edu. — P.S. 



COASTWATCH 



