The Overfishing of Mediterranean Bluefin Tuna

by Dani Escontrela, RJD Intern Bluefin tuna is the most valuable fish species in the world. Their numbers, however, have greatly decreased in recent years due to their high demand. In fact, in 2001 “one 202 kilogram bluefin tuna caught off the northern coast of Oma, Japan sold at the Tsukiji market for 862 USD/kg” (Shamshak […]

Exploring Broad Key with Our Lady of Lourdes

By Megan Piechowski, RJD Intern I was ecstatic about my first trip to Broad Key from the minute I heard about it weeks ago, so naturally not much sleep occurred that Friday night. Nonetheless, I woke up excited to begin my weekend with the lovely ladies of OLLA and my fellow RJD interns. I knew […]

Photo of the week: Cage diving in the Bahamas

In this week’s photo of the week, participants at the Oracle Club Excellence retreat get to see a lemon shark up close with the new RJ Dunlap shark cage.

Impending bloom: Human impacts on the marine environment

by Stacy Assael, RJD intern Ever wonder how mankind has contributed to the increase of jellyfish? Well, a recent study by Carlos Duarte et. al. (2012) has suggested that the large amounts of man-made structures/materials popping up in our world’s oceans may be providing artificial substrates for jellyfish polyps to attach to. Prior research on […]

Can the leatherback sea turtle be saved? An optimistic outlook

by Brittany Bartlett, RJD Intern Many species that have been present on this planet for millions of years now face the possibility of extinction within the near future due to human activity. Among these species with uncertain futures is the leatherback sea turtle; a species some scientists believe may go extinct within our own lifetime […]

Bioaccumulation & Biomagnification: When Bigger Isn’t Better.

by Becca Shelton, RJD Intern Ever wonder why you have to limit certain types of seafood? Or why you should not eat certain types of seafood? Today, I will help answer these questions with scientific research. As an avid ocean enthusiast and lover of sustainable seafood, it is crucial to understand what is floating around […]