Gatortailale

The Summer Meeting of The Washington Area Marine Aquarist Society (WAMAS) will be on Saturday, June 23rd, 2007 from 9:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m. Cafeteria, Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School, 4301 East-West Hwy, Bethesda, MD 20814 Our featured special guest speakers are Mitch Carl, Andy Dehart, Paul Schlicht, Sarah Lardizabal and Dr. Edward Noga. Along with FIVE great talks, lots of frag swapping, and a great raffle, this is sure to be a meeting NOT to miss! For further information on WAMAS and the Summer Meeting, visit our web site http://www.wamas.org/ Who: W.A.M.A.S. (Washington Area Marine Aquarium Society) When: June 23rd, 2007 (Saturday) Time: 10:00 A.M. - 5:00 P.M. (EST) Where: Cafeteria, Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School 4301 East-West Hwy Bethesda, MD 20814 Cost: Members - $5 / Non-members - $10.00 [Annual Membership = $20 - Individual; $35 - Family] Agenda 9-9:30 doors open 9:30-10:30 - Sarah Lardizabal: "Marine Plants and Macroalgae" 10:30-10:45 - break 10:45-11:45 - Paul Schlicht: "An Overview of Oceans, Reefs and Aquariums" 11:45-1:00 Lunch 1:00-2:00 - Mitch Carl: "SECORE: Puerto Rico, Raising Acropora palmata from egg to coral" 3:00-3:15 break 3:15-4:15 Ed Noga: "Important Diseases of Marine Fish" 4:15-4:30 break 4:30-5:30 - Andy Dehart: "Sharks: Biology and Husbandry in Public and Home Aquaria" Raffle 5:45 Miscellaneous - Lunch will be provided for a $3 charge. - Light refreshments and snacks will be provided. - Raffle prizes: - 2 Euroreef RS-80 skimmers - 2 "Watts Up" power meters from Traveller7 - frags galore + more to come! LOCATION: Cafeteria, Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School 4301 East-West Hwy Bethesda, MD 20814 Directions: From Virginia: Take the 495 Beltway heading East (Inner loop, toward Baltimore) Exit Connecticut Ave (Md 185), heading South (Right) Turn Right at the third light, East-West Hwy (Md 410) Turn Right after second light, at Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School From MD North via 270: Exit to 495 East (Inner Loop) towards Silver Spring Follow directions above From MD East: Take the 495 Beltway heading West (Outer loop, toward Virginia) Exit Connecticut Ave (Md 185), heading South (Left) Follow directions above Here's a map from Mapquest Mapquest Link Special guests Sarah Lardizabal The Sea Nursery Sarah currently calls Delaware home but has roots in Florida. She holds a degree in wildlife conservation and is weighing her graduate school options for marine and molecular biology. Her scientific interests lean toward the application of the advances of molecular biology and biotechnology to the fields of marine science. She has worked in marine biotechnology application projects, zebrafish, diatom and plant genomics research and wetlands research. Sarah has kept aquariums in some form since very early childhood, starting with Spanky the goldfish, and thanks her parents for their indulgence and support. With a marine engineer and a former marine biologist for parents, her obsession with the ocean was likely inevitable. Her freshwater aquaria interests were mostly in Apistogramma and West African dwarf cichlids and extensive freshwater planted systems. Her marine days started in early college and eventually moved from reef setups to marine planted and seagrass dominated aquaria. She is an avid SCUBA diver who dreams of running her own live aboard operation in Belize and hopes to one day become a professional instructor. She has interned and volunteered as an aquarist and husbandry aide for several zoos and aquariums in the U.S. including the National Aquarium in Baltimore, Maryland. Sarah hopes to join the research team of an aquarium or zoo, and work as a curator, after completing her education. When she isn't out parading as gator or shark bait, wading through seagrass beds in the Indian River Lagoon and the Chesapeake, she is often luring reefkeepers to 'the dark side' in the Marine Plant & Macroalgae forum on Reef Central. Paul Schlicht Larval Biologist Oceans, Reefs and Aquariums Paul received a BS degree in Aquaculture from Florida Tech in 1990. From 1990-1993 he worked for Harbor Branch Aquaculture, and then moved to Aqualife Research Corporation from 1993-1996. He has been with ORA from 1996 till present. Mitch Carl Supervisor of Aquarium Invertebrates Omaha Zoo Mitch Carl was born and raised in the hotbed of Marine Biology, Omaha, Nebraska. After a brief stint in freshwater, he began his saltwater career at Animal Talk Pet Center. After quickly realizing that he had no customer skills whatsoever, he obtained his Biology degree from the University of Nebraska at Omaha. Not because he wanted to go there, but because he could afford nothing else. With degree in hand, he marched immediately to the Henry Doorly Zoo and demanded/pleaded for a job. After being mocked mercilessly, he was offered a volunteer scuba/underwater custodian position. Soon after one of the aquarists mysteriously disappeared and he was offered the job. On his way to his current position as Supervisor of Aquatic Inverts, Mitch tore down and renovated 4 displays. His current reef tanks include a 26,000gal Sulawesi Beach tank, a 6000gal stony/sps tank and a 2000gal Symbiotic tank. Add it all up and the Omaha Zoo has the largest volume of water dedicated to corals in the nation (at least for a bit longer!). Mitch also started the Zoo's coral propagation program. This 1000gal system produces over 1000 frags each year, and supplies many zoo's and aquarium's with captive corals. Before becoming a father to beautiful twin daughters, he and his wife dove reefs around the world. Now this year he plans on taking the family to Adventureland in Des Moines, Iowa, where he hopes to snorkel in the wave pool. Oh, how things can change...... Noga, Ed, MS, DVM Professor of Aquatic Medicine North Carolina State University The Noga laboratory studies infectious diseases of finfish and shellfish, with emphasis on immune mechanisms and how these are influenced by environment and toxins. A major thrust of this research is the identification of novel, innate, antimicrobial defenses (polypeptide antibiotics) in fish and shellfish. These novel compounds are being examined for use in both disease management in aquatic animals as well as possible therapeutics in other species (e.g., humans). Another aspect of our research involves ecotoxicology and stress, with emphasis on the development of biomarkers for monitoring the health of cultured and wild aquatic populations. We are also involved in the development of molecular tools for the identification of important aquaculture pathogens. Funding is provided by North Carolina Sea Grant, the Binational Israel-U.S. Agricultural Research and Development Fund, the U.S.D.A.-N.R.I. and miscellaneous other funding sources. Andy Dehart General Manager National Aquarium, Washington DC Andy Dehart began his career in public aquariums at the National Aquarium in Baltimore in 1989 while still in high school. Andy left for Omaha, Nebraska to help build and open the Kingdom of the Seas Aquarium at the Henry Doorly Zoo, and returned to the National Aquarium in Baltimore as a senior aquarist and then as the Assistant Curator of Fishes, Animal Care Center. He is now the general manager of the National Aquarium in Washington, DC and oversees the husbandry, animal health, conservation, and facilities operations with the help of an excellent staff of knowledgeable and talented biologists and chemists. Andy earned a B.S. in Biology from the University of Nebraska at Omaha. His lifelong passion has been sharks and rays, and he has worked with them for nearly eighteen years. A particular specialty is the tiger shark. While at the Henry Doorly Zoo, Andy was able to maintain a tiger shark in the aquarium for nearly 3 years. He has authored two chapters for The Elasmobranch Husbandry Manual, a resource documenting how to keep sharks and rays in captivity. He is an avid SCUBA diver and divemaster. Andy is a member of the Board of Trustees for REEF (Reef Environmental Education Foundation) and has conducted fish diversity and abundance surveys throughout the Caribbean, the NE Atlantic, Hawaii and American Samoa. Andy is currently helping to coordinate a group of large public aquariums involved in conservation activities in the Bahamas. Some of the projects that are being worked on are invasive lionfish, mooring buoys, and sustainable collecting. The National Aquarium in Washington, DC serves as the home base for the national television show Aqua Kids and Andy is the science host for the program.