Mote Announces 2014 Special Lecture Series Lineup

© Anne Doubilet

SARASOTA – On February 3, leading underwater photographer Anne Doubilet will open Mote’s annual Special Lecture Series in the Immersion Cinema with the talk HOPE — Help Ocean Protect Earth: Photographs and Musings from the Blue Planet. Doubilet, known for her stunning images (like the coral and ice photo pictured on the right) will talk about her work, including her efforts to educate the public about the need to protect the earth by protecting our oceans.

Doubilet is just one of the many exciting speakers in this season’s lineup. Please join us for some exciting talks in the New Year.

2014 Speakers:
Feb. 3 Anne Doubilet. HOPE — Help Ocean Protect Earth: Photographs and Musings from the Blue Planet.
Anne L. Doubilet is an underwater explorer, writer and photographer who has logged thousands of dives worldwide as a freelance photographer and dive-team member for National Geographic Magazine. She has worked in the Red Sea, Papua New Guinea, Palau, Hawaii, Fiji, Tahiti, Indonesia, Madagascar, Japan, the Galapagos, all around Australia’s coasts and throughout the Caribbean — including many dives alongside Mote Marine Laboratory’s Founding Director, Dr. Eugenie Clark, who she considers a mentor and inspiration. Doubilet will open Mote’s annual Special Lecture Series in the Immersion Cinema. Her talk is sponsored by Caldwell Trust Company.

Feb. 10: Lad Akins. Indo-Pacific Lionfish: Here to Stay or Gone tomorrow?
Akins is the Founding Executive Director of REEF and led the organization in that capacity for 16 years, helping to design and develop the organization’s widely recognized marine conservation programs. In 2005, he changed his position in the organization to focus solely on the lionfish invasion. A professional diver and Coast Guard Captain, Akins has successfully bridged the gap between science, academia, management, commercial interests and the public. His broad perspective includes serving on numerous state, federal and international boards, panels and working groups, discovering and describing new species of fish, conducting research as an aquanaut in the Aquarius habitat and piloting deepwater submersibles. He has helped develop REEF’s marine life education and data collection programs and continues to lead numerous volunteer and research based projects each year. His focus as REEF’s Director of Operations is on addressing the lionfish invasion including developing and implementing research, outreach, training and control programs throughout the region. He has co-authored and produced The Lionfish Cookbook as a way to help educate stakeholders and encourage removal of invasive lionfish. This book represents a novel approach to addressing the invasion and is the result of the strong partnerships Akins has helped to align.

Feb. 17: Dr. Justin Perrault. Toxins in Turtles: A Cause for Concern?
A Postdoctoral Fellow in the Marine Immunology Program, Dr. Perrault joined Mote Marine Laboratory as a part of the Postdoctoral Research Fellowship Program. He completed his Ph.D. at Florida Atlantic University in 2013. There, his research focused on toxicology and health of adult and hatchling leatherback sea turtles (Dermochelys coriacea). He has studied leatherbacks in Florida and on Sandy Point National Wildlife Refuge in St. Croix, USVI. His experience with turtles is broad and includes aerial surveying, anatomy, blood sampling, health, necropsy, rehabilitation, tagging and toxicology. At Mote, he plans to continue his studies to determine toxicological endpoints for mercury and selenium in a freshwater turtle model. He also plans to compare health indices and concentrations of toxicants from satellite tagged loggerhead turtles (Caretta caretta) to determine whether health and/or toxicant levels differ among foraging grounds.

Feb. 24: Dr. Gerald Pollack. The Fourth Phase of Water: Beyond Solid, Liquid, and Vapor.
Dr. Pollack is bioengineering professor at the University of Washington and author of numerous books including his latest, The Fourth Phase of Water: Beyond Solid, Liquid, and Vapor. Pollack is an internationally leader in science and engineering and founder of the journal WATER. Pollack was the 2012 recipient of the coveted Prigogine Medal for thermodynamics of dissipative systems. The University of Washington Faculty chose Pollack in 2008 to receive their highest annual distinction: the Faculty Lecturer Award. He has received an honorary doctorate from Ural State University in Ekaterinburg, Russia, and was more recently named an Honorary Professor of the Russian Academy of Sciences and Foreign Member of the Srpska Academy. Pollack is a Founding Fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering and a Fellow of both the American Heart Association and the Biomedical Engineering Society. He recently received an NIH Director’s Transformative R01 Award for his work on water. His 1990 book, Muscles and Molecules: Uncovering the Principles of Biological Motion, won an Excellence Award from the Society for Technical Communication; his subsequent book, Cells, Gels and the Engines of Life, won that Society’s Distinguished Award. His lecture is sponsored by PNC Wealth Management.

March 3: Dr. Kevan Main. Sustaining Future Seafood and Fishery Resources through Aquaculture.
Dr. Main is Manager for the Marine & Freshwater Aquaculture Research Program and has led Mote's aquaculture research programs since 2001. She directs the operations at Mote’s 200-acre field station, Mote Aquaculture Park in eastern Sarasota County. In September 2012, Dr. Main was elected President of the World Aquaculture Society and today is Immediate Past President. Her research interests are in developing sustainable aquaculture methods to produce marine fish, sturgeon, shrimp, abalone, and corals through aquaculture. Main received her Ph.D. from Florida State University and has more than 20 years of experience in the aquaculture of tropical and subtropical fish and invertebrates from around the world. She has published seven books and more than 50 peer-reviewed publications and has traveled to aquaculture facilities throughout Asia, Europe and the United States.

March 10: Genevieve Brighouse. The National Marine Sanctuary of American Somoa — Fogava'a e tasi, a Pacific Strategy of people and place!
Brighouse is Superintendent of the Fagatele Bay National Marine Sanctuary of American Samoa. The only sanctuary south of the equator, and the largest national marine sanctuary out of a system of 13 National Marine Sanctuaries and one Marine National Monument in the U.S. The National Marine Sanctuary of American Somoa positions itself to fulfill an ambitious Pacific strategy on conservation for the nation, the Pacific and the rest of the world. Her talk is sponsored by PNC Wealth Management.

Series Information & Ticketing:
7:30 p.m. each Monday Feb. 3 to March 10, 2014 (doors open at 7 p.m. with seating on a first-come, first-served basis)
Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium, Immersion Cinema, 1600 Ken Thompson Parkway, Sarasota, Florida, 34236.
Tickets: Purchase in advance online at mote.org/lecture. $12 (per ticket per lecture) for Mote Members; $15 for non-Members.
Students, teachers and Mote volunteers (who don't hold a membership) can purchase tickets at the Member rate with a special discount code. Email  lecture@mote.org or call 941-388-4441, ext. 264, for the code.
Tickets are nonrefundable unless a lecture is canceled by Mote.
Questions: E-mail lecture@mote.org