NSF Speakers

Barbara Warren, Executive Director of Salem Sound Coast Watch, was our club’s guest speaker on June 14th. As mentioned in a previous month’s article on their fundraiser, Ms. Warren was recognized for having been awarded the prestigious EPA ‘Environmental Merit Award’ for her contributions to environmental advocacy. The objective of her presentation that included a fascinating PowerPoint presentation, followed by observing critters that she had collected in the field that day, aimed to help participants identify and quantify marine bioinvaders throughout the North Shore waters. Barbara focused her talk on how non-native species are transported around the world, why those of us in the diving community should be concerned and what governments and their agencies are doing, or in some cases, not doing. Additionally, she addressed the topic of what are the species of major concern. Examples included Green Fleece or Codium sp. in the case of a marine alga, the Chinese Mitten Crab, Eriocheir sinensis, so named for the dense patches of hairs on the claws of larger juveniles and adults in the case of an invertebrate animal, to say nothing of the varied and numerous tunicates. Finally, she spoke about what we as divers can do about this problem.
This presentation was well received with engaged Club members asking many questions regarding effective strategies for combating this growing problem as well as policy studies and implementation approaches for mitigating future occurrences.
Salem Sound Coast Watch, through their Marine Introduced Species Resource Center (http://www.salemsound.org/chimp.htm) is always seeking volunteers from the diving community to monitor the marine environment here on the North Shore. If you missed Barbara’s presentation, you can still participate by visiting the above website and joining.
Paul Sauvageau