In Person speaker

Rick Dayan is a retired Engineer. Rick worked for both IBM and as a Intellectual Property consultant. He joined USA Dive Club in March of 1983.  Rick was first certified in 1973 and has been taking underwater photos since a trip to Batangas and Anilao, Philippines back in 1982.  Rick has dove extensively throughout the Bahamas, Caribbean and warm water Pacific Dive Sites (except PNG was cold).

Tonight, Rick will be talking about a recent trip through the Solomon Islands on Bilikiki, a liveaboard boat.

Marine Conservation and Adventure Expeditions with Angela Smith and Shark Team One (in Person Speaker)

Angela Smith, founder of the endangered species conservation and citizen science expedition organization Shark Team One will speak about working with large marine animals and the conservation of endangered species worldwide.

Angela will talk about new projects such as her work to help build a marine protected area in the remote Weddell Sea, Antarctica and what it’s like to snorkel in Antarctica with curious seals and rafts of penguins. You will also see behind the scenes on Shark Team One film productions and research trips in The Bahamas, Mexico and Dominica as you learn about Shark Team One’s endangered species work with whale sharks, tiger sharks and sperm whale family groups. Angela will be discussing upcoming projects in the Canadian and Norwegian Arctic where she will be documenting marine mammal migrations through the ice floes and studying narwhal, bowhead whales and the “carousel feeding” orcas of Northern Norway.

Angela is an award-winning conservationist, photographer, writer and filmmaker specializing in endangered species and is the founder of the nonprofit Shark Team One. She is also a researcher supported by the S.E.E. Initiative (Science, Exploration, Education) with National Geographic and partners, a Microsoft AI for Earth grantee and a member of the Ocean Artists Society. Angela served as NGO Vice-chair for the Southeast Florida Coral Reef Initiative (SEFCRI), a program of United States Coral Reef Task Force (USCRTF). As an award-winning filmmaker, her wildlife documentaries have won accolades at venues such as Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival, Blue Ocean Film Festival, Jackson Wild and Wildlife Conservation Film Festival. She is an Indianapolis Prize for lifetime achievement in conservation nominee for 2020 and has recently led Shark Team One to be a Disney Conservation Fund grantee. Angela has been leading Shark Team One programs and expeditions since 2013.

Visit Angela’s website at: www.sharkteamone.org

Summary Brochure:

Shark Team One_Angela Smith_USA Dive Club 2024.pdf

Plant a Million Corals Foundation

Plant a Million Corals Foundation (PAMCF) is a non-profit (501(c)3) organization dedicated to restoring coral reefs through innovative science, education, and community engagement. Founded in 2019 by Dr. David Vaughan, a renowned coral reef scientist, known for his groundbreaking discovery of a method to rapidly reproduce resilient, fast-growing corals, PAMCF is committed to large scale application of micro-fragmentation. By cultivating and outplanting millions of corals, PAMCF aims to rebuild thriving coral reef ecosystems for future generations. With already over 40,000 corals on site at their facility in Summerland Key, and counting, PAMCF is on the way to reach 100,000 coral production by the end of 2024, and a 1.1million coral production capacity by the end of 2025. This will allow PAMCF to produce 1 million corals per year to be planted on the Florida Coral Reef Tract.

To accelerate coral restoration efforts, PAMCF has developed the Coral Restoration Units (CRUs) program, providing essential equipment and training to individuals and organizations committed to coral reef restoration. Additionally, the foundation offers Coral Restoration Workshops to educate and empower practitioners and organizations to participate in this critical conservation work.

Dr. David Vaughan
Founder, President, and CEO

Dr. David Vaughan has held positions in aquaculture research and development for over 45 years. He directed the Aquaculture Division at Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution for 17 years, including the design, build and operation of the 60 acre HBOI Aquaculture Development Park, the world’s only completely recirculating center for aquaculture training and demonstration.

Dr. David Vaughan is often cited with creating the R&D and scale up of clam farming technologies in Florida, and directing the training programs and operations of the nation’s largest hatchery to produce clams used for the retraining displaced fisherman.

He founded and developed ORA, Oceans, Reefs and Aquariums Inc., a large marine ornamental production facility and has worked with Philippe Cousteau and Earth Echo International on coral reef restoration initiatives.

As previous Executive Director of the Mote Marine Laboratory in the Florida Keys, he started the coral restoration program, heralded with developing the new technology of “micro-fragmentation”. Dr. Vaughan is presently helping people globally in this process as a scalable tool for reef restoration as Founder of Plant a Million Corals.

*  Dr. David E. Vaughan has previously worked for and with many other marine science organizations over the years and has now retired from those entities and is solely representing Plant A Million Corals until he reaches this goal.

Dee Dee Vaughan Smause
Co-Founder, Director, Development and Communications

Dee Dee grew up on and under the water. You could say that saltwater runs through her veins. Being raised by a marine biologist meant that almost all things revolved around the ocean, and that has continued to this day. As one of the co-founders of the Plant a Million Corals Foundation, her main role is to raise awareness and build partnerships for coral restoration.

Dee Dee’s professional career started much earlier and has ranged from the local to the global level. Working with the American Red Cross as the disaster response and volunteer coordinator, she handled volunteer recruitment, training, and deployment. While at the Earth Day Network, an international environmental advocacy based in Washington, D.C., she was the Executive Assistant to the President, assisting with organizational management, campaign development, and working with the media as a content contributor and writer. As the coordinator of the Florida Keys Community College Foundation (now College of the Florida Keys), Dee Dee was the lead administrator and fundraiser for the scholarship program supporting the students and programs of the school. In the aftermath of Hurricane Irma, she coordinated the disaster response for the students and staff, as well as assisting in the fundraising efforts to support those in need in the school. After the hurricane response, she joined the Florida Keys Community Land Trust, raising money and awareness for the lack of affordable housing in the Florida Keys as their Development Officer.

When the opportunity to start the Plant a Million Corals Foundation with her family, and actively support coral restoration around the world, she jumped at the chance to be a part of the founding team. Getting to work with practitioners, scientists, educators, supporters, and the community making coral restoration affordable, accessible, and scalable has been a dream come true!

Dee Dee lives in the Florida Keys with her husband, Jason, and their rescue pup, Isabela.

Your Photos, Your Story: Google Photos Made Simple

Chris and Jim Guld are THE Geeks on Tour. They’ve both been in the technology training and support field since the early 80s - they are Geeks who Teach! The “on tour” part is because they travel. They lived fulltime in an RV, traveling the US for 14 years and presenting seminars to RV rallies, now they travel the world and scuba dive. Their YouTube channel has over 13,000 subscribers. Chris is a Google Photos product expert (Diamond level) and she wrote the book “Learn Google Photos.” They’ve been devoted scuba-diving members of USA Dive Club since the early 90s. To learn more about these Geeks on Tour, just visit their website at GeeksOnTour.com.

Today, they will be presenting a HodgePodge of Google Photos and Smartphone Photography Tips. Starting with an introduction to Google Photos and how it allows you to keep your entire lifetime of photos and find anything with simple searches. Tips about sharing photos like Julie Manhold has done on the USADiveClub website. Tips about making photos look better with simple yet powerful editing tools, including Magic Eraser, Magic Editor, and fixing those green or blue-hued underwater photos with one click of the special Dive+ App. Jim will also show how he takes underwater photos with his smartphone and a $230 underwater housing. Please welcome Jim and Chris - The Geeks on Tour.

Google photos hints and tips.pdf

Photography Ambassador Marty Snyderman is going to show you the best way to visit the underwater paradise of the Philippines as he shares some of what you will experience during a trip to land-based Atlantis resorts in Dumaguete and Puerto Galera and on the liveaboard Azores. Gain insights into what to do to maximize your encounters with the amazing diversity of marine creatures inhabiting ecosystems that range from muck sites to stunning walls where excellent visibility, colorful fishes, turtles, and more awaits.

Marty was honored with the 2018 NOGI Award in the Arts by the Underwater Academy of Arts and Sciences, an EMMY Award for cinematography, a Reaching Out Award in 2008 as a photographer presented by the Diving Equipment and Marketing Association (DEMA), and the California Scuba Service Award in 2020, Marty Snyderman is a widely published still photographer, author, and teacher who has worked to conserve and share the magic of the undersea world for more than four decades.

Marty serves as the Photography Ambassador for the Philippines based Atlantis Dive Resorts and Liveaboards. He is also an Ikelite Ambassador. For many years, Marty was the Marine Life Editor of Dive Training Magazine and he serves as the Marine Life/Photography Editor of California Diving News.

His still photography has been used by many major diving and wildlife publications, natural history museums, and aquaria. Representing Nikon Inc., Sea & Sea USA, and through his own courses, Marty taught underwater
photography in person and offered instruction as a magazine columnist for more than four decades. 

Often, when I look at shark photography on social media, in magazines, or at many presentations, I have noticed that although the photos are of interesting sharks, and technically excellent, they lack sizzle – the wow factor! Why is that? Most underwater photographers are so caught up in the capture, that they forget about creating a story or an imaginative and artsy photograph, and just photograph the standard side view portrait. Granted, many underwater photographers have taken a huge step out of their comfort zone, just to dive with and photograph sharks. I will be discussing the next step(s) and will explain how I plan, set up, design, and photograph sharks in the wild.

Gary's pictures are found at garyrosephotos.com

Gary Rose MD has been a certified diver for over 45 years and is a PADI OpenWater Instructor. As a Plastic Surgeon and former Associate Professor of Microbiology and Surgery at the College of Medicine at Florida Atlantic University, he has fulfilled his life passion as a marine biologist with his research on marine microorganisms, as well as large ocean apex predators.  Dr. Rose lectures all over the world on “Shark Identification and Behavior” and gives seminars on “Updates On Diving Medicine”. An avid underwater photographer, his articles appear in Alert Diver and X-RAY magazines.   Dr. Rose is a member of the Divers Alert Network and The Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society. You can find him on weekends diving our local waters and photographing our plentiful and diverse sharks. You can reach him at garyrosephotos@gmail.com

Note: Carole will be joining us for dinner at 6 p.m. in the Aloft Hotel lobby. Carole spoke to us in March of 2023, please plan to attend to welcome Carole back.

Carole Marshall has been collecting shells since she was a young girl. Digging in the mud on the Rock River in Newville, Wisconsin she found snails she now knows are Viviperous georgiana. Her mother introduced her to sea shells after a stay on Fort Myers Beach and though it was not quite love at first sight, it became so, when she found her first shell on the beach. A baby’s ear, lying on the sand. Carole thought her mom had put it there for her to find.

Her quest for knowledge came with a share day at a club meeting in Schaumburg, Illinois. A lady who was a guest at the meeting asked if she knew of the Chicago Shell Club. Her surprised response was “There are clubs for people who collect shells?!!! That was in 1965 and her mom, dad and she all joined that club.

After planning a move to the West Palm Beach area in 1970, Carole wrote a fond goodbye to her Chicago friends and hoped there would be a shell club in Florida.

Within a few weeks, a note came from the Palm Beach County Shell Club letting her know they were there and looking forward to her becoming a member.

Carole would later become President of that club as well as President of two other shell clubs, the Broward Shell Club and the Treasure Coast Shell Club. Two special highlights of shell club participation and service was when she became an honorary member of the Broward Shell Club and when she was a recipient of the Neptunea award from the Conchologists of America in May of 2022.

Her main passion is Worldwide Scallops, having won many awards with her exhibits. Her second passion is collecting money both paper and coins, as well as exonumia, with shells depicted.

Mollusks have been used by man since the beginning of time. This program will explore a few of the ways mollusks are being used.

For the last 15 years, Carole has been writing a book about the seashells of the Lake Worth Lagoon. She complains the scientists keep moving the bar: changing names, genus and species, sometimes families and resurrecting old names and synonymizing others. She really hopes to finish this this year.

Mike Sipos is a Florida Sea Grant Agent for University of Florida IFAS Extension office in Collier County and a native to Southwest Florida. Michael received his BS in Zoology and MS in Fisheries Aquatic Sciences from the University of Florida. Mike’s previous experience includes being a university fisheries biologist and working with aquaculture operations from FL to around the world. In his current position, Mike educates stakeholders to support his programmatic areas of sustainable fisheries, environmental literacy and stewardship.

Grouper have a special place in Floridian’s hearts whether they appear on a dinner plate, on the end of a fishing line or spotted while diving cruising around a reef. Come to this seminar to learn more about the diverse Serranidae fish family, characteristics genera found in Florida, the significance grouper species to our state and a special aside on the largest of the Atlantic grouper species; the Goliath. We will also discuss the Great Goliath Grouper County Citizen Science Program where volunteer divers can help natural resource managers record the presence, abundance, and size distribution of these impressive fish annually during the first two weeks of June.

Dr. Antoniou began his shark conservation path in 1994 as the Director of Field Operations for the Shark Research Institute based in Princeton New Jersey. He was the first to tag whale sharks in the Caribbean with satellite transmitters, tracking the sharks thousands of miles and to great depths of the Gulf of Mexico. He is currently working as the volunteer CEO for Fins Attached, which he founded in 2010. He has had a passion for shark research and conservation for over 30 years.

Dr. Antoniou, in his pursuit to protect sharks and has traveled to places such as Honduras  and Baja California, the Galapagos, Costa Rica, Malpelo Island, Guadalupe Island and the Revillagegdo Islands to research sharks and convince their governments to protect sharks. After reviewing data provided, the Honduran government decreed the whale shark a protected species their territorial waters with severe penalties for violators.Passage of this law made Honduras the first nation in the Caribbean to protect whale sharks. Alex was featured in a Discovery Channel documentary called ‘Future Shark’ for his work in Honduras.

Fins Attached has also been involved in advocacy work. In March of 2017 a position statement was submitted to NOAA Fisheries to lobby for the Oceanic Whitetip shark to be placed on the US Endangered Species list, which ultimately occurred.

Perhaps Alex’s greatest achievement was the 2017 acquisition of a 134-foot, long range research expedition vessel, to be able to expand the mission of Fins Attached. He did this by reaching out to colleagues and friends, who cared as much about sharks in the marine environment, to invest in this noble cause, to get the project moving, and to accelerate the effort to save sharks, the marine environment, and us. The vessel was acquired in April of 2017. At a dedication in Fort Lauderdale, Florida in July of 2017, the Senshu Maru was renamed to “Sharkwater,” in honor of the work started by the late Rob Stewart, the producer of the original Sharkwater documentary.

Over the past 28 plus years, Dr. Antoniou has established strong partnerships with scientists around the world. In recognition for his dedication towards shark conservation, Alex was awarded the 2017 “Shark Guardian of the Year” award from the Shark Project of Germany. An international award that is voted on by researchers and organizations from around the world. The equation is simple, Save Sharks + Save our Oceans = Save Us.

In 2022, Dr. Antoniou spearheaded the creation of an ocean coalition called, One Ocean Worldwide Coalition, comprising of Fins Attached, The Rob Stewart Sharkwater Foundation, For the Oceans Foundation and United Conservationists.

Public awareness is key to the conservation mission. In 2022 Alex attended CITES and helped lobby for the inclusion of 60 additional shark and ray species on Appendix II. He also rallied the public to lobby the USA government to pass the Shark Fins Sales Elimination Act, which was signed into law in December 2022.

Dr. Antoniou's full Biography: Alex Antoniou bio 2024.pdf

Little is known about the long-term effects of environmental changes on coastal dolphin populations. This question is significant in the light of coastal marine habitat loss, pollution, and climate change. During this presentation, we will explore the home range, social structure, habitat use, and diet of a resident population of bottlenose dolphins in Biscayne Bay, a heavily impacted waterway that has experienced significant habitat degradation over the past decades.

Jessica Carde's academic background includes a Bachelor’s in Biology, a Bachelor’s in Psychology, and a Master’s in Marine Conservation & Policy from Stony Brook University, and a Doctorate in Marine Ecology from Florida International University. Her dissertation research focused on coastal dolphin behavior and ecology in response to anthropogenic threats and climate change. In collaboration with The NOAA Southeast Fisheries Science Center, her project investigated the impacts of disturbances and environmental changes on the habitat use, behavior and distribution of resident bottlenose dolphins within Biscayne Bay. Jessica is continuing her research through FIU to further elucidate the behaviors and habitat use of this population and assess exposure to other potential risks, such as boating activity, contaminants, and noise pollution.