NEADC News

Photo by Joy Marzolf

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2021 Speakers

March 17th, 2021 - Jill Heinerth - Journey of an Iceberg
Febuary 17th, 2021 - Roderic Mast - The State of the World's Sea Turtles
January 20th, 2021 - Tom Fitz - Behind the Scenes in Wildlife Filmmaking

2020 Speakers

December 16th, 2020 - Michelle Paddack & Wayne Sentman - Diving for Conservation in Palau and Raja Ampat
November 18th, 2020 - Julie Ouimet and Michel Labrecque, N2Pix - Discovering an emerging dive destination - Quebec
October 21st, 2020 - Marisa Tellez - Exploration of the Gentle Giants and Apex Predators of the Placencia Lagoon, Belize
September 16th, 2020 - Samantha Whitcraft Green the Fleet®:Sustainability Initiatives at Aggressor Adventures
August 19th, 2020 - Erik Shank - Hyperbaric Medicine
July 15th, 2020 - Eric Angel Ramos - Spies from the sky: What drone observations are teaching us about the lives of marine mammals in Belize and Mexico
June 17th, 2020 - Amy Giannotti - Florida: The Front Line in the Exotic Species Battle
May 20th, 2020 - Rhonda Moniz - Boats, Barnacles, and Bodies
April 15th, 2020 - Michel Labrecque and Julie Ouimet - Arabian Adventures - Exploring Oman
March 18th, 2020 - The annual Behind the Scenes Tour of the Aquarium was canceled, due to Coronavirus
Febuary 19th, 2020 - Ethan Gordon - Diving Fiji
January 15th, 2020 - Les Kaufman - All coral reefs are local!

2019 Speakers

December 2019 - The annual Member's Share Event.
November 2019 - Nicholas Ray - presented on changing oyster populations in New England
October 18, 2019 - Joy Marzolf - diving in New Zealand
September 20, 2019 -Richard Hyman - presented about his adventures with Cousteau while working aboard the Calypso
August 2019 - - The Aquarium hosted a Panel Discussion on Corporate Solutions to Plastic Pollution
July 2019 - Charles Mazel - Fluorescence Diving
June 2019 - Jake Stout - photography from the 2018 Sea Rovers Internship
May 2019 - Jonathan Bird - presented footage from South Australia diving with Leafy Sea Dragons and Cuttlefish
April 19, 2019 - Ted Maney - "Hot Times in the Gulf of Maine: Temperature Changes on Rock wall Communities in the Gulf of Maine"
March 2019 - Members got special Behind the Scenes tours of the Galleries and Dive area.
Febuary 2019 - Joy Marzolf - Turneffe Atoll, Belize and diving with the Oceanic Society
January 18th, 2019 -Ethan Gordon - photographing wrecks

2018 Speakers

December 2018 - The annual Member's Share Event.
November 2018 - Elizabeth Stevenson - the Program Officer and Chair of the Marine Conservation Action Fund, shared stories of success from recent projects that have been funded. The The micor-granting program of the NEAQ Anderson Cabot center for Ocean Life supported 150 projects in over 40 countries since 1990.
October 18, 2018 - Marianne Long - Atlantic White Shark Conservancy
September 20, 2018 - Members got special Behind the Scenes tours of the Galleries and Dive area.
August 2018 - Annette Spaulding talked about her search for the Native American Petroglyphs that were lost underwater when a dam was built on the Connecticut River.
July 2018 - Janna Nichols - REEF's Citizen Science Program Manager. Janna joined REEF in 2010 but has been a volunteer with REEF since 2000 and has completed over 1200 surveys
June 2018 - -
May 2018 - Vin Malkowski - marine harvest regulations. Vin is the Senior Biologist at MA Marine Fisheries
April 19, 2018 - Joy Marzolf - diving in the Maldives
March 2018 -
Febuary 2018 - Diane Thompson - discussed her research on Tropical Climate Change and Coral Reef Ecosystems
January 18th, 2018 -Faith Ortins - diving in Tasmania

2017 Speakers

December 2017 - The annual Member's Share Event.
November 2017 - Phil Colarusso - The EPA Dive Program
October 18, 2017 - Amy Fleischer told of her 22-day voyage aboard Dr. Robert Ballard's Exploration Vessel Nautilus. The ship explored the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary this past July.Amy's bio on the Nautilus page
September 20, 2017 - Mike O'Neill - Tropical Fish in New England
August 2017 - Sgt. Patrick Foley, from the MA State Police Underwater Recovery Unit
July 2017 - Richie Kohler - Mystery of the Last Olympian
June 2017 - Wayne Sentman - Raja Ampat
May 2017 - Andy Martiniez showed us the newly released 4th edition of his guidebook: Marine Life of the North Atlantic- practically required reading for New England Divers. He also gave a preview of his forthcoming app, soon to be released to the Apple and Android stores. www.andrewjmartinez.com
April 19, 2017 - Les Kaufman spoke about the state of the Caribbean coral reefs and the relationship between coastal communities and costal habitats. More info about Les Kaufman
March 2017 - Members got special Behind the Scenes tours of the Galleries and Dive area.
Febuary 2017 - Joy Marzolf presented some videos of the upcoming Sea Rovers Clinic
January 18th, 2017 - Catherine Chan-Tse - Sleeping with the Fish: Learning about Saturation Diving and Underwater Habitats at the Aquarius Reef Base

2016 Speakers

December 21, 2016 - The annual Member's Share Event. Presentations included: Bob Munson who showed the video of his Georgia Aquarium dive; Tom Bergendahl presented the Do's and Don'ts of Tropical Fish collecting; and Rick Rosa showed a video from the October 2015 Bahamas trip – diving Duncan's wreck
November 16, 2016 - Captain Jim Sullivan from Boston Scuba. Jim has been diving in Boston Harbor for 24 years. He talked about the different islands and dive sites in Boston Harbor. Boston Scuba's Website
October 19, 2016 - Elizabeth Seibert - Elizabeth received her PHD from Scripps. She discussed her research studying fossil fish teeth and shark scales in marine sediment samples. More about Elizabeth Sibert
September 21, 2016 - Catherine Chan-Tse - Diving in British Columbia
August 17, 2016 - Mike O'Neal - Gulf Stream Orphan Project. Mike talked about the GSO project and using data from Citizen Scientists to help understand the phenomenon. He has had reports from Virginia to Nova Scotia. You can log your sittings on inaturalist.com
July 2016 - Andy MartinezSpoke about diving in Indonesia www.andrewjmartinez.com
June 15, 2016 - John Hanzl, Dive Safely Officer, NE Aquarium. John talked about his experience with Decompression sickness while doing his cave certification at Ginnie Springs, FL last July John's Blog post about the experience
May 18, 2016 - Vin Malkowski from the Mass Division of Marine Fisheries spoke about New England fish and shellfish regulations for divers
April 20, 2016 - Ethan GordonEthan, President of Boston Sea Rovers, shared some photos from a recent trip to the Socorro Islands aboard the Nautilus Explorer. He also shared tips on how to get the best shots for different scenarios. Ethan's Website
March 16, 2016 - This meeting was the behind the scenes tour of the Aquarium.
Febuary 17, 2016 - Joy Marzolf - Manatees & More - the Wildlife of King's Bay. Joy shared her experience and photos from her trip to Florida where she led 2 trips for the Oceanic Society
January 20, 2016 - Mike Walsh presented diving in Belize about the Aggressor Live Aboard

2015 Speakers

December 2015 - The annual Member's Share Event. Some highlights include: Rick Rosa talked about the upcoming trip Venice Beach, FL for collecting sharks teeth. He brought in what he collected from previous trip. Brought in a microscope to show the tiny teeth he found in the sand that he shipped home and then later sifted through. Maura Keane showed video and photos of her dive trip to Key Largo; Laura Casey showed photos of her 1999 expedition with the US Navy for blue water sampling; Tom Bergandahl showed photos of different sites for Kayak Diving; Ricardo showed video of swimming with Whale Sharks in Cancun;
November 18, 2015 - Scott Dowd - Project Piaba. Scott discussed the history of Project Piaba and the impact the project has had on habit protection and the local economy of the areas where fish are collected. He also discussed the future of the project and plans to get more people involved in home aquariums and raise awareness on how and where the fish are collected.
October 21, 2015 - Josh Cummings - Diving Year round in New England. Josh shared with us his photos and video of New England Diving - he included marine life he has encountered, wreck diving and also Ice Diving
September 16, 2015 - Jonathan Bird shared with us his adventures while becoming a certified Cave Diver in Abaco. Jonathan has been a Club member since 1998, and is an Emmy Award-winning underwater cinematographer. He hosts a Television show on PBS kids, Jonathan's Blue World
August 19, 2015 - Amy Fleischer, a Science Communication Fellow aboard Dr. Robert Ballard's Exploration Vessel Nautilus presented video and photos of her work and adventures aboard the Nautilus.Amy's bio on the Nautilus page
July 15, 2015 - Andy Martinez - Diving in the Phillipines www.andrewjmartinez.com
June 2015
May 20th, 2015 - Vin Malkoski of the Mass Dept of Marine Fisheries presented New England fish and Shellfish regulartions for divers.
April
March
Feb. 18th, 2015 - Randi Rotjan gave an amazing talk on the species of hard coral we have in New England. This small and hearty coral that lives right here and can survive both the heat of New England summers and the brutal New England winters. This often-overlooked animal has secrets to tell - besides it's very existence, it may be an important study tool to understand the function of tropical corals in changing environments. She even suggested using the dive club as spotters to help in her research!
January

2014 Speakers

December 2014 - The annual Member's Share Event.
November 2014 -
October 2014 -
September 2014 -
August 2014 -
July 16th, 2014 - Dr. John Mandelman, director of research and senior scientist at the New England Aquarium's John H. Prescott Marine Laboratory, spoke about the conservation efforts being used to help the Atlantic cod.
June 18th, 2014 - Bob Michelson: New England Fish ID - Bob gave his New England REEF Fish ID course, and detailed how to identify the most likely fishes that one can encounter during the GAFC
May 21th, 2014 - Ted Maney - The new REEF invertabrate ID program. Ted gave e detailed talk about REEF's new invertebrate program, and showed how to identify 60 native and invasive invertebrate and algae species. Species included in the program were selected in consultation with regional scientists and experts to serve as a representative sample of the biodiversity of the region.
April 2014 -
March 2014 -
Febuary 2014 -
January 15, 2014 - Jonathan Bird delivered, as usual, very animated and enjoyable presentation on diving Cocos. He charted the luxurious liveaboard Argo which has a distinction of having a submarine on board that can dive down to 1500 feet. Jonathan filmed two episodes of Jonathan Bird Blue World – one about hammerheads and white tips night feeding including a rare footing of the white tip mating and the other from the deep dive in the submarine.

2013 Speakers

December 2013 - The annual Member's Share Event.
November 16, 2013 - Ethan Gordon talked about diving at Coco's Island. Before the presentation Ethan invited everybody to the 60 annual Sea Rovers meeting in March. Bigger and better than ever because of the anniversary will feature the Historical Diving Society talks and exhibit of the classical dive gear and Brian Skerry as a MC of the film festival among other attractions.Ethan is an award winning photographer, most recently one of his pictures was named the most popular Sports Diver cover and the last editor of Fathoms Magazine. The Coco's Island is known from a big fish which Ethan captured on the film, but also showed a lot of smaller animals that he photographed waiting for Mr Big. Cost Rica is a beautiful country promoting eco-tourism and conservation of natural resources, the place which should be on everybody list places to visit. Ethan's Website
October 16, 2013 - Scott Dowd from NEAq presented a talk entitled “Buy a fish save a tree”. For some time Scott has been traveling to Amazon where he made a surprising discovery that aquarium fish trade can lead to conservation of rain forest. Cardinal Tetras very colorful ornamental fish is being catch by locals in Rio Negro providing them with livelihood and saving forest at the same time. Scott talked about Project Piaba which is a community-based interdisciplinary project established to understand the ecological and socio-cultural systems of the middle Rio Negro basin, Amazonas, Brazil, in order to conserve and maintain the live ornamental fishery and other renewable resources at commercially feasible and ecologically sustainable levels.
September 2013 - Joy Marzolf presented a very interesting talk entitled “Marine Life of the New Zealand”. Joy was lucky to spend a whole month in the New Zealand diving and observing the unique wild life. She dove at Poor Knights Islands Marine Reserve declared by Jacque Cousteau one of the 5 top dive sites in the world and also in the fiords of the South Island. She observed the daily routine of yellow eyed penguins that were going into sea to catch a fish to feed the chicks, Hector's dolphins frolicking near shore, rare dusky dolphins and sea lions. It was very interesting to watch sights above and below the waters of this amazing and beautiful country.
August 21, 2013 - Vin Malkowski, senior marine biologist with Massachusetts Division of Fisheries presented The Divers Guide to Harvest in Massachusetts. The most interesting part was about harvesting lobsters and crabs.
July 17th, 2013 - Daniel Fernando, a scientist with the Manta Trust discussed his research surveying fish markets for manta ray landings in Sri Lanka. He was awarded the Aquarium's Marine Conservation Action Fund, and his research contributed to the March 2013 CITES vote which significantly strengthened protections for manta rays.
Daniel also shared a clip from an Aljazeera documentary on the manta ray fishery that featuring Daniel's Sri Lanka project. Daniel appears in the first few minutes of the film and then again starting at approximately 17 minutes.
View the NEAq blog post on this project's connection to the CITES victory
June 19th, 2013 - Bob Michelson gave his New England REEF Fish ID course, and detailed how to identify the most likely fishes that one can encounter during the GAFC
May
April
March
Febuary
January 15th, 2013 - Amy Fleischer from Mass Audubon's Wellfleet Wildlife Sanctuary presented Sea Turtle 411. Her talk was full of interesting information about turtles (they got oxygen through the osmosis when they sleep, they travel the world, it take a long time for turtle to mature etc) and information about efforts to protect these endangered and threatened species. She took part in patrolling the nesting sites in Florida and visited the Loggerhead Marine life Center in Juno, Gumbo Limbo Nature Center in Boca Raton, Florida Oceanographic Institution in Stuart, and the Conservancy of Southwest Florida and Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, both in Naples – all of which play an important role in protecting sea turtle nests, rescuing and rehabilitating injured or ill sea turtles, and promoting scientific study of sea turtles. Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary rescues cold-stunned sea turtles in the winter months, which are rehabilitated at New England Aquarium’s Quincy facility; an overview of these activities and the 2012 stranding season concluded the talk.

2012 Speakers

December 19th, 2012 - Our annual show and tell featured the underwater wedding proposal of our new Shore dive coordinator, Greg Pease; Rick Rosa and Dan Sprague Bahamas showed slides from their recent Bahamas trip and we had a showing of the New England segments of Ocean Frontiers
November
October
September
August 15th, 2012- Joy and Uma gave a presentation on JawsFest over the weekend, and Samantha Whitcomb gave a presentation about SharkSavers and their various programs.
July 18th, 2012 - Vic Mastone: gave a presentation on Underwater Archaeology, and the discovery of : 17th century Nipmuc mishoonahs in Lake Quinsigamond, Worcester.
June - Bob Michelson gave his New England REEF Fish ID course, and detailed how to identify the most likely fishes that one can encounter during the GAFC
May 16, 2012- Dan Laughlin from the Aquarium detailed the changes that would be happening as the GOT and aquarium are remodeled
April - Matthew Lawrence: Stellwagen Bank Sanctuary Diving Opportunities
March - Members Night Behind the Scenes at the Aquarium’s NEW Animal Care Center in Quincy!
February 15, 2012 - Wayne Sentman gave a presentation on tagging green Sea Turtles. For more information, visit: http://www.oceanicsociety.org/trip/research/ulithi-sea-turtles

Older Speakers

October 16, 2011 - Joy Marzolf and Uma Mirani gave presentations about diving with white sharks. Joy was talking about Great White Sharks of Guadalupe. She went on a dive boat from San Diego, sailing 22 hrs to the remote island to see great whites. She took lots of great pictures of this magnificent fish. Uma was talking about her recent trip to South Africa – “White sharks versus cape fur seals in False Bay. She talked about research on behavior of great whites and seal colony as well as her land trip to meet other animals.
September 21st, 2011 - Maryhelen Shuman-Groh talked about Dive Travel and Sustainability.
August 17th, 2011 - Ken Mallory talked about Adventures beneath the sea – living in an underwater scientific station. He talked briefly about history of underwater habitats – in sixties many countries had underwater habitats from Cousteau Star Fish house to the US Sea Lab III. Humans dreamed for a long time about living underwater and many architects draw plans of sunken cities. Today only one underwater habitat exists – Aquarius off Key Largo near the Conch Reef. Ken spent there a week living with 7 other people tracking fish. The fish was caught, tag surgically inserted and fish movement tracked. Most fish stayed close to home e.g. habitat.
July 20th, 2011 - Bob Michelson in preparation for the GAFC event talked about 20 most likely fishes that one can encounter during the GAFC. The most abandoned fish is cunner followed by winter flounder, striped bass, rock gunnel, Pollock, sea raven, winter skate, fluke, sculpin, grubby, down to red hake. Bob provided also points how to use the habitat to identify fish and reminded that one can’t relay on fish colors for identification, since the same species can often come in variety of colors, see sea raven.
June 15th, 2011 - Nick Fazah talked about misconceptions about the free diving, physiology, proper breathing and blackouts. He also showed the amazing videos of people silently swimming around the wrecks without noisy scuba gear.
June 15th, 2011 - Holly Martell Bourbon had a short presentation about REEF and upcoming GAFC event. Holly is updating the current curriculum and hopes to include invertebrates (Pacific Northwest is already doing that) in the survey.
May 18th, 2011 - Mike Walsh: Exploring Indonesia: Raja Ampat, Lembeh Strait and Amazing Camouflage Creatures
April 20th, 2011 Wayne Sentman: Effects of the Recent Tsunami on Wildlife of the Hawaiian Atolls
March
Febuary 16th, 2011 - Fred Riger: "Lionfish: Savior of the reef"- Since the 2005 when the first lionfish was observed in Bahamas Fred noticed improvement in the health of corral reef and return of long spine sea urchins and crabs. His controversial message is that lion fish is not a problem, but they act as a surrogate for species that are missing from the reef that kept algae in check. Fred is the operator of Grand Bhamas Scuba, and there are regular trips to the bahamas on the Dive Travel page
January 19th, 2011 - Mark Potter: "Diving Fiji" Mark talked about a recent trip to Fiji, #1 reason to go to Fiji - The Diving #2 reason to go to Fiji - The Friendliest People
December 15th, 2010 - Andrew Martinez: "Marine Life of the North Atlantic". Andy talked about the new edition of his well known book that now covers Canada to Cape May and shown stunning pictures of creatures from sponges, anemones, jellies, mollusks, crabs to fishes.
November 17, 2010 - Jonathan Bird - "Diving Statia" Jonathan talked about his 2008 trip to the small island of St. Eustatius. The island boasts wrecks and an abundance of fish, and it's small population keep it largely untouched.
October 20th, 2010 - Marissa Wozniak - “Diving the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary” Marissa talked about several recreational dive sites in Sanctuary and show videos from diving Sanctuary Hill, Jeffrey’s Ledge, Sponge Forest and two wrecks. She also talked about non-profit organization Stellwagen Alive! dedicated to protection, preservation and restoration of the sanctuary.
September 15th, 2010 - Val and John Feehan, and Ryan King gave a presentation about “Les Escumins, Quebec” John provided some historical background, Val gave a lot of useful tips and information and Ryan talk about marine life there. We were treated to lots of excellent pictures taken by Val and Ryan.
August 18th, 2010 Wayne Sentman gave a talk about Turneffe Atoll, Belize. He spoke about the Oceanic Society's project in Belize and Wayne's recent trip there co-leading a tour with Sylvia Earle!
July 21st, 2010 - Membership Coordinator Charlie Benoit spoke about his experiences on a recent NEAq Collecting trip. This trip is unique in that it included professors and students from Roger Williams University who were introduced to (REEF) surveys, fish collection techniques, and assisted aquarium researchers with six of their ongoing research projects. Charlie's blog about the experience was posted here
June 16th, 2010 - Holly Martel Bourbon gave a presentation about REEF and how to become a member. This was followed by Bob Michelson's presentation on how to identify the top 20 common species in New England waters - a great primer for the GAFC.
May 12th, 2010 - Women Divers Hall of Famer Faith Ortins gave a presentation about her 2010 trip to Antartica
April 21st, 2010 - Photographer Andy Martinez gave a presentation on Indonesia's Lembeh Strait
March 17th, 2010 - Dive Club Liason Bill Murphy led the dive club on a behind the scenes tour of the Aquarium Cold Water Gallery and GOT
Febuary 17th, 2010 - Vin Malkoski & Holly Bourbon spoke about Recreational Lobstering and Crabbing in MA
January 20th, 2010 - Holly Martel Bourbon talked about a History of Sea Rovers
November 18th, 2009 - Joint Lowell Lecture: Anita Metzler presented An American Tail: The Life and Science of the American Lobster (Homarus americanus)
October 26th, 2009 - Ryan Hunter gave a presentation about the Historical Diving Society, he gave an overview of the Society, its mission, and its current operations.
September 16th, 2009 - Jonathan Bird The Emmy Award-winning cinematographer and producer spoke about
August 19th, 2009 - John Hanzl - Diving and preparation for the Andrea Doria. John is also a writer, visit www.outofhellskitchen.com
July 15th, 2009 - Bob Michelson - REEF Fish ID Course
June 17th, 2009 - Al Bozza and Jim Carozza: Dominica
May 20, 2009 - Mark Wiley - Invasive species to New England. Learn more at Sea Grant Marine Invader Tracking Program and MIT Sea Grant Invaders program
April 15, 2009 -
March 18, 2009 - Ethan Gordon - Sharks of Cocos Island.. Learn more at http://www.ethangordon.com/
Febuary 18, 2009 - Wayne Sentman - Midway Atoll - A Window into the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument
January 21, 2009 Heather Tausig – Director of Conservation at the NeAq Presented the New England Aquarium Sustainable Fisheries Initiative www.neaq.org/fisheries or www.neaq.org/FofM
November 19, 2008 - Mike Walsh -Lembeh Strait, Indonesia Macro Photos