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Greetings: I have been able to obtain the services of the Gulfstream Eagle (www.gulfstreameagle.com) to conduct these dives from, whose captain is very interested in helping with the project. Most likely we will be working out of Ft. Pierce; we are still working out the berthing details... Currently, I have responses from 11 divers, of which two would be designated as support divers. As this vessel is very spacious, we have room for several more which would also help to defray costs amongst the group. We may also be joined by some individuals who will be filming a segment for PBS' "Beyond Science." Should be interesting... Some background: I recently was contacted by some colleagues who are conducting research on the Oculina Bank off the east coast of Florida. Oculina Bank, which lies in water roughly ranging from 180 to 330 feet deep, consists of limestone pinnacles of up to 80 feet of relief covered with delicately branched Oculina varicosa coral. The extremely delicate and fragile coral grows slowly, less than a half inch per year, and forms spherical, branching thicket-like colonies that can stretch for hundreds of yards and reach heights of 1-15 feet or more. Their work includes investigation into the feasibility of transplanting shallow-water Oculina coral to this deep-water area, in order to help restore coral habitat devastated by fishery-related activities such as trawling. Recent work suggests that the growth rate of transplanted shallow water coral is greatly enhanced, indicating that this method may have some merit. For more information, check out: http://www.at-sea.org/features/oculina0999.html In any case, the retrieval of a current meter, collection of samples, and obtaining video footage of their concrete transplant modules would be some of the objectives of the dives. The area we would be working is approximately 15 miles off Ft. Pierce in water 250-320' deep. The dives are planned for September 30th and October 1st. As I mentioned, we are looking for more qualified divers to help on this project. If anyone is interested in participating, please e-mail me (aocfishman@ho*.co*) for more information. Cheers, Mike Association of Underwater Explorers Because it's there...somewhere...maybe. http://www.mikey.net/aue _________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com. Share information about yourself, create your own public profile at http://profiles.msn.com. -- Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'.
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