Lagniappe (a little something extra)

Around the Gulf . . .
The Dauphin Island Sea Lab has been named the nation’s 13th Coastal America Coastal Ecosystem Learning Center. The prestigious federal designation celebrates the Sea Lab’s premier coastal research, education and outreach programs and its valuable contribution in providing comprehensive marine environmental sciences support for Alabama and surrounding regions. The Coastal America partnership, established in 1992, brings with it pledges of long-term support from the Coastal America federal partners.

In late January, a female leatherback turtle made an unexpected appearance in a lagoon on Florida’s coast. The mammoth turtle had flipper tags indicating she had been tagged by researchers in Costa Rica seven years earlier. Researchers and conservation groups used this sighting to emphasize the importance of international cooperation in sea turtle conservation. Leatherbacks are the largest of all sea turtles and are now considered critically endangered. The immense turtle was rescued by the U.S. Coast Guard and released unharmed in deep waters.

Alabama’s oyster industry has endorsed a bill pending in the Alabama House aimed at curtailing illegal oyster sales and imposing tighter regulatory controls on oyster harvesting. The proposed bill would require oystermen to pick up a trip ticket before leaving the dock and to check back in with conservation officials upon their return. This measure comes as federal health officials are taking a closer look at the oyster industry in an effort to safeguard against cases of bacterial infections linked to eating raw oysters.


Around the Nation . . .
Archaeologists are surveying the underwater wreckage lying off the coast of Utah and Omaha beaches in France, in an attempt to find out what happened to the missing soldiers of the Normandy Invasion. Fifty-six years after the battle, researchers using sophisticated equipment have found, among other things, several Sherman tanks and more than two dozen shipwrecks lying in waters ranging from 5 to 30 meters deep. The team hopes that identifying some of the wrecks might provide closure to the relatives of servicemen still listed as MIA.

The Bush Administration will consider allowing drilling for oil and gas on “all public lands,” including areas designated as national monuments. Reiterating his support for energy exploration in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, the President said he would not consider putting a drilling rig in the “crown jewels of our environment,” but that there are some public lands that are suitable for exploration.