Dr. Cindy Lewis, director of the Keys Marine Laboratory, joined Good Morning Keys on KeysTalk 96.9/102.5FM this morning to talk about what’s going on at the lab.
Keys Marine Laboratory has been in existence since 1992.
Dr. Lewis said, “We support the academic research and restoration for the state of Florida. It’s all college level students and beyond who come to us. Professors come down and they teach their ecology marine biology classes, as well as researchers that have been coming to the lab for a number of years, including some really important research going on in the Keys, everybody’s been talking about the spinning fish. Well, we are kind of a hub for many of the researchers who come to the Keys and work out of our lab to do some of that sampling and monitoring. But we’ve also just had a shark researcher from Australia come and use our facility to do some sensory research with these sharks and trying to develop shark repellent technology. Also, with all of our temperature controlled sea water systems, we have a really good capacity for helping with the coral restoration going on.”
The lab is having an open house on Saturday March 1.
Dr. Lewis said, “We’re very excited. We do this every year, annually, we have our open house. It’s from one to three o’clock on that Saturday March 1. I think we’ve got eight or 10 different booths and displays that will be there, scattered around our property, so people can walk through and talk to different coral restoration and conservation groups that will be on site. They’ve got some demos, and they’ve got some hands on exhibits and everything for everybody participate. It’s definitely kid friendly and there will be an opportunity to talk to some of my staff of four scientists that I have on site, about the different things that are going on at the lab. It should be exciting.”
The laboratory also has vessels and research vehicles.
Dr. Lewis said, “Our home institution is actually up in St Petersburg, and that’s where the three big 100 foot plus or minus marine research vessels are actually harbored. But they travel all around the state and out into the Gulf of Mexico and into the Caribbean. So they cannot get into the lab. It’s too shallow, but they can anchor offshore, so they’re not there right now. But Keys Marine Laboratory also has a fleet of small near shore vessels that we can take all of our classes and researchers out to the near shore habitat. It’s mostly snorkeling. But a lot of our researchers, too are scientific divers, and so we participate in reciprocity for scientific divers from different universities, so we can support their diving activities, which is kind of a necessity for a lot of marine research.”
Lionfish dissection will also be included in the open house.
Dr. Lewis said, “That is an invasive species that certainly has populated our reefs, but I’ll tell you firsthand, they taste really good, and the dissection will show you what the lionfish have been eating well, just before they were caught and also probably safe ways to handle them, because they do have those venomous spine so you want to avoid those.”
There are also long range plans in place for the lab.
Dr. Lewis said, “We’re at the early stages of a capital campaign to fund new buildings for the laboratory. The buildings that we’re currently in were built in the 1950s and they’re a little long in the tooth, so we need to be a little bit more resistant and resilient. So we’ve got plans to be here for the future, for the future of our future marine biologists, basically, so follow us on Facebook, follow us on Instagram.”
For more information, click here: https://www.fio.usf.edu/keys-marine-lab/