I know we are blasted with bad news on a daily basis, but it’s important to remember that there are good people everywhere doing amazing things to help solve the worlds biggest problems. And if you are looking for some faith in humanity (I always am!) then look no further than Virginia Key FL. The work being done at UM RSMAS (The Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science) blows me away.
They want to play a leading role in the development of sustainable seafood, yellowtail snapper (delicious!) is just one of nearly 10 different species, including flounder, mahi-mahi (can’t go to the FL Keys without a Mahi sandwich and a cold one), red snapper, cobia, almaco jack, Nassau grouper, hogfish, and even stone crabs. They are working to find the most cost-effective and environmentally sound methods to raise seafood in aquaculture facilities, and then just share the knowledge with the industry! So that you and I can eat delicious seafoodie-goodness sustainably. OH YEAH!
They are also working on coral propagation and restoration (extremely necessary to help with the recovery of threatened coral species), ways to increase the resilience of corals in coastal communities, making them more resilient to bleaching and they study the effects of waves and wind with a massive wind-wave-storm simulator that can run a range of experiments about how wind and waves interact during hurricanes, as well as decipher how hurricane landfalls can impact coastal communities, structures, and ecosystems.
WOW, what a day!!
