Sunday Favorites: The Vestiges of The Old Mote Marine Part 2

When we left off last week, Dr. Eugene Clark had just begun a small research facility in Placida, Fla. called Cape Haze Marine Laboratory. Dr. Clark was a local celebrity renowned for her work in Ichthyology or the study of fish. As soon as she began writing research papers, other scientists contacted her from all over the world in hopes of studying alongside her at Cape Haze. What they likely didn't realize the facility was little more than a single room and a shallow pool where she studied sharks and other marine life, according to a research paper, entitled "Mote Marine Laboratory, Exploring the Secrets of the Sea Since 1955" by Kumar Mahadevan.

A lot of Dr. Clark's work focused on sharks and their behaviors and ability to learn things with instruction, which was a groundbreaking concept at the time. By 1960, it became clear a larger facility was needed. Sarasota County was hoping to attract a research-like facility to the area, and Cape Haze seemed like the perfect fit. The marina moved to its new home on the southern end of Siesta Key.

For this facility, famed oceanic experts flew in from afar to aid in the development of programs, including Jacques Cousteau, who provided counsel to Dr. Clark for the development of the research programs.

Despite the grandeur of the project, Dr. Clark was offered a more prestigious professorship at the University of Maryland. However, she first made sure her legacy continued.

She connected with Tampa native William R. Mote, a retired businessman and avid fisherman who had sport-fished all over the world. His retirement dream was to build a large barge that cruised along the Gulf of Mexico and would allow him to fish from one side, while a team of scientists collected samples from the other, according to Mahadevan.

Dr. Clark convinced Mote to direct his energies and investments to the already established Cape Haze Research Laboratory, which had lost the interest of Ann and William Vanderbilt, the facility's original benefactors. Mote essentially saved the laboratory under Clark's counsel, according to Clark in her book Lady and the Sharks.

In 1967, Cape Haze was renamed after the Mote family (Bill and his wife Lenore Mote, and sisters Elizabeth and Frances). Their goal was to turn the facility from a field station into an international research center over the next decade.

Under Dr. Gilbert's direction, Mote's research was expanded into five areas: microbiology, neurobiology and behavior, estuarine ecology, the biology of sharks, and biomedical studies. Gilbert honored his predecessor, Dr. Clark, by continuing an extensive focus on sharks. Gilbert studied dolphin-shark relations, shark repellants, shark behavior, and biomedical science, all funded by the U.S. Navy and the National Institutes of Health. A new shark holding tank was constructed at the Siesta Key site. A door allowed the sharks to safely be released back into the wild without harm. The shark tank structure is still visible today and is located in Palmer Point Park.

In 1978 Mote Marine Laboratory's lease on the land at Siesta Key was expiring and their facility was at risk because of erosion due to the wild migrations of Midnight Pass. Historically, the pass would seem to change overnight. Historic charts showcase its significant movement over a three-mile stretch of coastline. During the past 100 years, it would migrate north and south significantly, according to the article "Midnight Pass: Lessons Learned after 30 years," published in 2013 by Siesta Sand. Then, in 1982 a hurricane caused more significant damage.

Mote and Gilbert successfully campaigned for the City of Sarasota to have Mote Marine moved to its current location on City Island. However, vestiges of the old Mote still remain on Siesta Key and I look forward to discovering more of them.