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Upcoming Meetings
For the next few months we are encouraging everyone to practice social distancing and will be holding the general meeting lectures remotely. If you want to watch any of the lectures live, visit our registration page.

April 21, 2021, 6:30 pm.
Jasmin Graham - Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
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Join Jasmin Graham to learn about some of the most bizarre sharks and rays we have here in Florida. You'll learn about the evolution and ecology of hammerhead sharks and the smalltooth sawfish. You'll also learn about new, cutting edge technology being used to study these amazing creatures and hear about Jasmin's journey to shark science.

Jasmin Graham is a shark scientist and environmental educator who specializes in elasmobranch (shark and ray) ecology and evolution. Her research interests include smalltooth sawfish movement ecology and hammerhead shark phylogeny. Jasmin has a passion for science education and making science more accessible to everyone. She is project coordinator for the MarSci-LACE project, which is focused on researching and promoting best practices to recruit, support and retain minority students in marine science. Jasmin is the CEO of Minorities in Shark Sciences, an organization dedicated to supporting women of color in shark sciences.

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May 19, 2021, 6:30 pm.
Sara P. Grady: Ancient Blue Bloods - Biology and Ecology of Horseshoe Crabs
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Horseshoe crabs are unique and prehistoric creatures whose populations have declined over the past few decades due to overharvest for bait. Come learn how they are not really crabs at all, how their blue blood helps keep us all safe from infection, their shift from a bad reputation for eating clams to a good reputation for aerating our mudflats, and what state and federal fisheries management are doing to try to monitor and protect them.

Sara P. Grady, Ph.D. is the South Shore Regional Coordinator for the Massachusetts Bays National Estuary Program and Watershed Ecologist at the North and South Rivers Watershed Association in Norwell, MA. She received her Bachelor of Science in Aquatic Biology from Brown University in 2001 and spent her junior year participating in Northeastern's East/West Marine Biology Program (now Three Seas). She earned her Ph.D. in Biology from the Boston University Marine Program in Woods Hole in 2006 with a dissertation on horseshoe crab population ecology on Cape Cod. Her specialties include coastal and estuarine ecology, invertebrate zoology, and ecological restoration.

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General Meetings are normally held the third Wednesday of each month. Until further notice, they will take place online via ZOOM. Register online for each meeting by visiting the registration page.

For more info about all our meetings, visit our Club Meetings Page

Upcoming General Meetings

For the next few months, we are holding our general meeting lectures online. If you want to attend any of them live (same time as the normal meeting times), sign up on our registration page, and we will send you the connection info a few days before the meeting

View our upcoming meeting schedule

View our previous speakers

NEADC Photo Challenge

The NEADC is holding a monthly photo challenge, open to all club members!

A selection of images will be shown in a brief slide show during our monthly General Meeting. Deadline for submissions is the Monday before the General Meeting. See you on Zoom!

Challenge #4: Photobomb!

Share an underwater image that represents Photobombing.

The image must have been taken underwater by you.

A selection of images will be shown in a brief slide show during our May General Meeting. Deadline for submissions is May 17th. See you on Zoom!

Click here to submit an entry

Great Annual Fish Count

The Board of the New England Aquarium Dive Club has made the difficult decision to postpone the 2021 Great Annual Fish Count Event originally scheduled for Saturday, July 24, 2021 in order to keep all of our participants safe during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

We will be hosting a GAFC/REEF-themed event during our July Dive Club General Meeting on Wednesday, July 21, 2021 with special guest Janna Nichols from REEF Reef Environmental Education Foundation! Stay tuned to our website for details and registration information!

Save the Date for the 2022 Great Annual Fish Count to be held on Saturday, July 23, 2022 at Stage Fort Park, Gloucester, MA.

Thank you to all of our participants and sponsors for your ongoing support. We look forward to seeing you at our event in 2022!

REEF Northeast US & Canada Critterwatchers Facebook Group

REEF Reef Environmental

Great Annual Fish Count Page

Sea Turtle links from the Januay Speaker

Roderic Mast, our guest speaker from February provided some links to his program, and organization:

Blue Habits:

https://www.bluehabits.org/

https://www.youtube.com/user/OceanicSociety

Tips from the September Speaker

Samantha Whitcraft, our guest speaker from September provided some links to her programs, and ways divers can help:

Aggressor Adventures’ Green the Fleet Program

Sea of Change Foundation’s Brochure, About Sea Of Change video (featuring Guy Harvey), and Leading through Conservation & Research Zoom presentation/video (Foundation overview)

Sea of Change Foundation’s Reef Rescue and Rapid Response Program flyer (printable pdf) – our grant program that empowers divers as first responders to acute reef damage

Our three Sustainable Choices PSAs with Force Blue:

• Choose Safe and Sustainable Sun Protection
• Refuse, Reduce, Re-Use Single Use Plastics
• Choose Sustainable Seafood

Should you wish to follow Sea of Change and/or share from their Facebook page, they post regularly at https://www.facebook.com/SeaOfChange

Don't Let Your Membership Lapse

Even while they were closed, the New England Aquarium was still caring for animals and maintaining the facilities and exhibits. They were still keeping a crew at work, and running virtual programs.

Now that they are open with limited visitors, it's more important than ever to maintain your membership so they can continue to keep up with these expenses.

Your dive club membership ($15 add on to the Aquarium membership) allows us to have speakers every month throughout the year (which we will continue to do online).

The Aquarium launched an online advocacy tool as a way that people can show their support for the Aquarium. The tool helps visitors submit a letter to their elected officials asking Congress to support emergency relief funding for non-profit aquariums, zoos, and museums across the country. It takes less than 30 seconds and costs nothing to participate.

More Resources for supporting the NEAq:

• Emergency Relief Petition
• Mission Forward Fund
• Facebook Live Virtual Visits

Support Your Local Dive Shop!

The local dive shops across New England continue to need your business! Many are now open reduced hours or open by appointment, and still offering classes virtually or equipment servicing.