Month: May 2020

Captain John Douglas of MLML Marine Operations helps free entangled whale

Lauren Cooley

Captain John Douglas of SJSU/MLML Marine Operations recently helped free an entangled humpback whale in Monterey Bay. The whale was severely entangled in commercial Dungeness crab fishing gear that anchored it in place, preventing normal movement or feeding.

Captain Douglas collaborated with teams from the US Coast Guard, The Marine Mammal Center, Marine Life Studies, and the National Marine Sanctuaries West Coast Region to free the whale. Thank you to JD and the entire rescue team for your outstanding work!

Learn more about the disentanglement effort in the NOAA press release. 

MLML Aquaculture Facility featured in Monterey Herald

Lauren Cooley

The SJSU/MLML Aquaculture Facility was featured in the latest issue of the Monterey Herald! Drs. Michael Graham and Luke Gardner were both interviewed regarding the future of aquaculture and the impacts of Covid-19 on the industry. The MLML Aquaculture Facility aims to develop novel technologies for enhancing the sustainability and productivity of current aquaculture practices through research, education, and policy initiatives.

Read the Monterey Herald article, titled "Is pandemic giving aquaculture a jump start?", here.

Four MLML graduate students receive research grants from Myers Trust!

Lauren Cooley

We are excited to announce that four SJSU/MLML graduate students received research grants from the Dr. Earl H. Myers & Ethel M. Myers Oceanographic & Marine Biology Trust this year. Congratulations to the following students:

Congratulations to all grant recipients! We can’t wait to see the results of your exciting thesis projects.

Shelby Ziegler joins MLML as postdoctoral research associate

Lauren Cooley

We would like to extend a warm welcome to new SJSU/MLML postdoctoral research associate Dr. Shelby Ziegler! Shelby just completed her PhD at the University of North Carolina Institute of Marine Sciences where her research focused on coastal habitats and fish communities.

At MLML, she will be working with the Fisheries & Conservation Biology and Ichthyology Labs on a project evaluating the performance of the statewide Marine Protected Areas system for enhancing fisheries production and communities. Welcome to Moss Landing, Shelby!

SJSU/MLML Research Affiliate Sea Otter Savvy featured in NBC story

Lauren Cooley

SJSU/MLML research affiliates Sea Otter Savvy would like to remind everyone to continue keeping their distance from sea otters and other wildlife as social distancing guidelines are relaxed. Sea Otter Savvy director Gena Bentall was featured in a recent video by NBC Bay Area discussing this topic.

Click here to watch the video, titled "As Coronavirus Restrictions Relax, Wildlife Still Needs Social Distancing".

Ichthyology Lab alumnus Evan Mattiasen publishes results of thesis research on rockfish behavior and physiology

Lauren Cooley

MLML alumnus Evan Mattiasen recently published the results of his thesis research in the journal Global Change Biology!

This study, co-authored by SJSU/MLML Ichthyology Lab professor Dr. Scott Hamilton and CSUMB professor Dr. Cheryl Logan, examines the effects of low oxygen conditions (hypoxia) on rockfish behavior and physiology. The results of this study are particularly relevant for fish stock management in light of global climate change, which is predicted to increase the frequency and severity of hypoxia.

Read Evan’s paper, titled "Effects of hypoxia on the behavior and physiology of kelp forest fishes", here: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/gcb.15076

Four MLML students receive COAST Graduate Student Research Awards!

Lauren Cooley

We are excited to announce that four MLML graduate students received COAST Graduate Student Research Awards this year! Congratulations to Juliana Cornett, Gammon Koval, Lauren Cooley, and Melissa Naugle.

The CSU Council on Ocean Affairs, Science & Technology (COAST) provides these grants to support CSU graduate students engaged in marine, coastal, and coastal watershed research. Many SJSU/MLML students have been funded by COAST over the years, and we are always thankful for the California State University’s strong support for marine science research.

Vertebrate Ecology Lab student Sharon Hsu nominates Costa Rican sea turtle non-profit ASTOP for grant funding

Victoria Vasquez

Graduate student Sharon Hsu of the SJSU/MLML Vertebrate Ecology Lab needs your help! She has nominated the sea turtle non-profit Asociación Salvemos las Tortugas de Parismina - ASTOP for a $5000 grant that would allow their vital conservation work to continue during the Covid-19 pandemic. Sharon collaborated with this small community based organization in Parismina, Costa Rica for her thesis research on leatherback sea turtles and is now hoping to rally support for them during these unprecedented times.

The organization with the most votes wins, so please visit the link below and vote for ASTOP! You can learn more about ASTOP and leatherbacks in Sharon’s post on The Drop-In blog.

Vote for ASTOP: seaturtles.org/vote

Webinar – SJSU College of Science Virtual Seminar – May 1st

Victoria Vasquez

 

Phil Heller, SJSU Department of Computer Science
Presenting: "Software Without Algorithms: Deep Learning in the Deep Ocean"

SJSU Webinar | May 1st, 2020 at 4pm

Abstract:

Deep Learning is an artificial intelligence technique that is especially successful at processing images. Although it is widespread in society, it is not well understood outside the Computer Science research community. This talk will explain Deep Learning in lay terms and then will describe 3 ways it is being applied in the Heller research group, which develops computer analysis techniques for understanding the effects of climate change on the world's oceans.