The deep-pelagic habitat (200 m depth to just above the seabed) is the largest habitat in the Gulf of Mexico, yet we know very little about it compared to coastal and shallow-water habitats. Our limited understanding of this major marine habitat makes it extremely difficult to assess the effects of disturbances such as the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Travis Richards seeks to better understand the structure of deep-pelagic food webs by tracing the energy flow from the food web base through higher trophic levels. His research will help expand our understanding of the deep-pelagic habitat and serve as a reference point for future studies and response efforts.

The GoMRI community embraces bright and dedicated students like Travis Richards and their important contributions. The GoMRI Scholars Program recognizes graduate students whose work focuses on GoMRI-funded projects and builds community for the next generation of ocean science professionals.

Travis's work is a feature story on the GoMRI website.  Read about it here

The DEEPEND Consortium held it's first Synthesis Workshop at NSU's Guy Harvey Oceanographic Center in Dania Beach Florida on May 14th-15th, 2018.  The workshop was well-attended by 50 consortia members, students, and affiliated scientists, including the following external participants:

Stacy Calhoun (ULL; Deep-pelagic zooplankton)
Kait Frasier (SIO; Marine mammal collaboration)
Dean Grubbs (FSU; Deep-demersal predator collaboration)
Dan Hahn (NOAA Office of Response and Restoration)
Bill Hogarth (GoMRI Research Board Member)
John Quinlan (NOAA NMFS SEFSC – NRDA water column assessment)
Steve Murawski (USF; C-IMAGE I-III PI; epipelagic top predator collaboration)
Kelly Robinson (ULL; RFP VI co-PI – Deep-pelagic zooplankton)
Jim Ruzicka (OSU, RFP VI co-PI – ecosystem modeling)
Verena Wang (USM: – Deep-pelagic zooplankton, larval fish time-series)
Eric Weissberger (NOAA NMFS Monitoring and Adaptive Management)
Chuck Wilson (GoMRI Chief Science Officer)

We thank all participants who joined us in this synthesis effort.  The meeting was recorded and will be transcribed for a report.

The meeting agenda can be downloaded here.

Saturday, April 28th, DEEPEND team member, Heather Judkins, narrated the midwater transect portion of the NOAA Okeanos dive which is part of a cruise currently being conducted in the Gulf of Mexico which ends on May 3rd. Tracey Sutton was also part of the shore-based scientific team, identifying the various fish species that were seen. We had amazing sightings from siphonophores to fishes to even cephalopods!

The goal of the Okeanos cruises are to explore new areas of both benthic and midwater regions around the world. This year, the Okeanos team will be in the Gulf of Mexico and the western Atlantic Ocean. The public are invited to view the live feed of the explorations at this site: https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/okeanos/

From April 6-8, 2018, DEEPEND members will be attending Rock the Ocean’s Tortuga Musical Festival at Fort Lauderdale Beach Park in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. DEEPEND members will have a booth at the Conservation Village, which will be located in between the two stages. Our booth will have deep-sea trivia and prizes! Come win some glow-in-the-dark tattoos! A DEEPEND t-shirt raffle will be held each day as well. Stop by and talk to several graduate students and professors about our research during this three day event! We are excited to meet you all and talk about the deep sea!

Read about all of NSU's participants here and to find out more information about Rock the Ocean’s festival/Conservation Village click here: TortugaMusicFestival.com

Richard Jones, Matt Woodstock, Nina Pruzinsky and Nick Turner at the DEEPEND booth last year during Tortuga.