Gulf of Mexico Expedition Public Education Summary
For over thirty years, as part of its dual research and public education mission, Ocean Alliance has been studying and raising awareness of the effects of chemical pollutants on sea life, especially marine mammal populations. Ocean Alliance’s long-term ecological research involves the worldwide collection of baseline toxicity data from marine species inhabiting different levels of the ocean food chain.
Ocean Alliance’s Gulf of Mexico Research Expedition is examining how marine pollutants, including oil and chemical dispersants, affect the health of marine life from the bottom to the top of oceanic food chain (e.g. from mollusks to marine mammals).
Data collected will provide scientists, policymakers, the general public, and the many stakeholders who rely on the Gulf’s rich natural resources for their livelihoods, with a starting point for where contaminant levels currently stand. Data from future surveys can be compared with this starting point in order to gain a clearer understanding of the consequences of oil and chemical dispersants on the Gulf and Atlantic food chains.
Public Education Components
The Gulf of Mexico Expedition will include a number of educational components. Data from the expedition will help inform thoughtful efforts to mitigate the effects of the oil spill. Undergraduate and graduate students will be fully engaged in all aspects of the Expedition.
Educational media from the Gulf of Mexico Expedition will include video reports and blogs from Odyssey’s research scientists and crew covering: day-to-day observations from aboard the research vessel; the potential immediate and longer-term effects of the oil spill on marine mammals and Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean food chains; and ways that individual stakeholders, policymakers, NGO’s and the government can help promote the health of marine ecosystems.
In addition to video footage captured aboard Odyssey, images will be captured by the vessel’s underwater BOWCAM, enabling viewers to see animals like whales, dolphins, and porpoises that come close to the boat. Whenever possible, Odyssey’s acoustic array will be deployed to capture the wide range of underwater sounds produced by marine animals and humans.
Click here for more on the Gulf of Mexico Research Expedition.