programs blog

*** In Person Speaker ***

Samantha Noyes is an undergraduate student at Florida Atlantic University College of Science focusing on Marine Biology and is a fall intern with the American Shark Conservancy through the School of Environmental, Coastal and Ocean Sustainability (ECOS) program.

The American Shark Conservancy was formed in 2017 by Hannah Medd after leaving a global conservation organization so she could focus on the issues in her own backyard in South Florida. ASC is a scientific organization based in Palm Beach Gardens that conducts research that can be applied to management and conservation policies for vulnerable shark species. 

There are national, regional, and local networks that coordinate responses to injured or deceased marine wildlife, mostly marine mammals and turtles. However, Florida currently has no statewide protocol for responding to injured or deceased sharks. ASC created the Shark Reporting and Response Network (SRRN) to help build the capacity to respond, collect samples, and disseminate those samples to appropriate facilities for research. The value of building out a coordinated effort in responding to these events allows for the collection of samples that would otherwise require lethal sampling but can afford critical insights into the individual’s cause of death as well as insights into the growth, diet, reproduction, and habitat use of vulnerable and endangered species.

*** Zoom Speaker***

Mead Krówka is a REEF Education Coordinator. He joined the REEF team based at the REEF Campus in early 2024 to assist with our growing Explorers Education Programs. Mead grew up in Pisgah Forest, North Carolina where he spent countless hours hiking, backpacking, and falling in love with the outdoors. This led to him getting his first PADI certification at age 13, leading to hundreds of dives around the world. In May 2021, Mead graduated from the University of North Carolina Wilmington with degrees in Environmental Science and Biological Anthropology. His time at UNCW led to volunteer work with the Alliance for Cape Fear Trees and the Surfrider Foundation, as well as a research publication in the American Association for Biological Anthropology. Prior to joining the REEF team, Mead was a Program Coordinator for residential marine science summer programs through Sea Turtle Camp and WB Surf Camp, where he developed educational curricula and led residential overnight programs. In his free time, Mead enjoys traveling, birding, diving, surfing, and spending as much time outdoors as possible. Mead is excited to share his passion for education and conservation!

Reef Environmental Education Foundation (REEF) protects marine life through education, service, and research. REEF facilitates programs that actively engage divers, snorkelers, and other marine enthusiasts in marine conservation by transforming them into citizen scientists. With knowledge, training, and the opportunity to get involved, these marine citizen scientists make significant and ongoing contributions. REEF provides varied training opportunities to encourage wide participation, and has a comprehensive experience-rating system and QA/QC checks for data submission to ensure high quality data. The survey methodology was developed with support from The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and guidance by the Southeast Fisheries Science Center of the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS). In our talk you will learn all about REEFs mission, Volunteer Fish Survey Project, and next steps for how YOU can become a free member and active citizen scientist.

*** In Person Speaker ***

Susan K. Bryan is a semi-retired marine and environmental scientist dedicated to conservation.  Susan's love for the ocean and marine life began as a small child spending time at Florida beaches during the summer months. My passion for photography began in middle school as a member of the Journalism Club. I eventually purchased my own film camera, then progressed to digital photography.

Naturally, my love for photography expanded from landscape and wildlife photography to underwater photography which is my primary focus now. My current underwater set up includes a Nikon Z-7 full frame, 45 MP mirrorless camera in a Nauticam housing with two Sea & Sea YS-D3 strobes. I love wide angle photography as much as macro photography, although I find macro photography more challenging and creative.

One of my goals as a photographer is to raise awareness of the importance of macro marine life as the basis of ocean health. Many people aren’t aware of conservation challenges that affect the smallest marine animals because we’ve heard so much about threatened hard corals reefs. It’s equally important to recognize that marine animals live in sand and seaweed prairies. To protect marine life that are so precious to us, I encourage all underwater photographers to please consider their impact on the critters and their fragile surrounding environments while taking pictures. 

Susan’s  photography can be viewed at and/or reach me at:

Facebook: @KarenFortheOcean     Instagram: @karen_fortheocean     Webpage: karen_fortheocean.pixels.com

Tonya Wiley is our speaker this meeting. Sawfish are large shark-like rays that once were  relatively common in Florida's coastal waters. Now, Florida's smalltooth sawfish is endangered and scientists are striving to learn as much as possible about this iconic and fascinating fish. Tonya will provide a presentation with interesting facts about sawfish, updates on Florida sawfish research including the recent mortality events in the Keys, explanations of management tools such as the Endangered Species Act, and descriptions of ways you can be involved in the conservation of smalltooth sawfish. Join us to see a three-foot sawfish replica, feel some real sawfish rostra (saws), and get some great free sawfish swag!

Tonya grew up far from saltwater in Michigan and north Texas but developed a love for the ocean during family vacations to Florida and caught her first shark while fishing with her dad in Charlotte Harbor.  Following a stint in the US Navy she received a Bachelor of Science degree in Marine Fisheries from Texas A&M University at Galveston.  She completed an internship with the White Shark Research Institute in South Africa, and then a temporary research project on endangered suckers with US Geological Survey in Oregon.  Tonya has worked for the Coastal Fisheries Division of Texas Parks and Wildlife Department as a Marine Finfish Hatchery Technician, Ecosystem Management Technician, and Fisheries Outreach Specialist; and for Mote Marine laboratory’s Center for Shark Research on the Sawfish Research Project leading field surveys for endangered smalltooth sawfish from Tampa Bay to the Florida Keys.  Tonya is now the President of  Havenworth Coastal Conservation, founded to promote the sustainable use and conservation of marine resources through research, outreach, and education. Tonya has been conducting field studies of sharks and rays since 2001, including research on the endangered smalltooth sawfish in Florida, becoming an authority on the biology and ecology of the species. Tonya now leads sawfish research in the Tampa Bay area and outreach efforts throughout the country. She serves as a Vice President for the Sawfish Conservation Society and is an appointed member of and team leader for the U.S. Smalltooth Sawfish Recovery Implementation Team, a multi-institutional panel of experts working to protect the remaining sawfish population in the U.S. and prevent the species from going extinct.   

***Zoom Speaker***

Michael Middlebrooks, Ph.D., is an invertebrate zoologist and an advocate for the tiny wonders of the animal kingdom. He is an avid scuba diver and passionate about underwater exploration. His enthusiasm for sharing the world of micro-fauna is evident in his talks about the small but spectacular snails, shrimp, and sea slugs that make up a just a fraction of the underwater animal kingdom. He is an Associate Professor of Biology at the University of Tampa where he teaches hands-on courses in Invertebrate Zoology, Global Sustainability, and Coral Reefs. His classes feature photographs of marine invertebrates that he has taken during his adventures in underwater exploration around the world.

In Dr. Middlebrooks’ academic research, he uncovers the intricate relationships that colorful “lettuce” sea slugs have with the food they eat.  Specifically, he focuses on the behaviors of photosynthetic or “solar powered” sea slugs which can steal chloroplasts from the algae they eat and store them inside of their own cells to make energy. Dr. Middlebrooks also conducts research on seagrass restoration and examines the animal communities that live in, and depend on, seagrass beds.

Please join us to learn all about sea slugs, the gastropods that gave up the shell. In this presentation we will learn about the diversity and wonder of sea slugs and how they have adapted to life in the ocean without the protection of a shell, including some slugs that have managed to become solar-powered. 

***In Person Speaker***

Gary Rose MD has been a certified diver for over 50 years and is a PADI Open Water 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 

Shark Behavior and Identification

Sharks have survived on Planet Earth for 400 million years. What makes them such successful survivors?  Dr. Gary Rose will discuss the basic facts about sharks in our waters. He will teach you a simple technique to easily distinguish the different species of sharks from each other – in clear or murky water.  As a shark diver and photographer, he will also give you an entertaining overview, with plenty of personal anecdotes, about what makes sharks such great survivors and how their multiple senses are so different than our own. 

*** In Person Speaker and USA Dive Club Member***

Linda Ianniello – “Blackwater Creatures” 

Linda has been scuba diving and taking underwater images for over 30 years. Her favorite type of photography has always been macro photography, where half the challenge is finding the small, unusual subjects.  When a local dive operator started doing “blackwater” dives she became interested. She was quickly hooked and has done 550 blackwater dives locally, in just under 10 years. These dives involve going approximately five miles off the coast and doing a night drift dive close to the Gulf Stream where the bottom is 700 to 750 feet deep. 

It is fascinating to find and photograph the animals that migrate vertically from the deep every night to feed, and those that spend their whole lives in the water column. Linda then strives to identify and learn more about them, with a lot of help from willing scientists. In return, the scientists are interested to see the subjects “in situ” rather than mangled after being collected in a net towed behind a boat. Linda will talk about the evolution of these dives and how much she has learned, and also how much she hopes to have contributed to science and education. These creatures, though small, all have a purpose and are necessary to the health of the ocean.

*** Virtual Speaker ***

Christine O’Sullivan is a Senior Lecturer in Environmental Studies at the University of Technology, Jamaica (UTech, Ja.) and is currently pursuing a PhD in Marine Sciences at the University of the West Indies, Mona Campus. She has Masters’ degrees in Natural Resource Management and Marine Mammal Science from the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus and the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, respectively.  Before working for UTech, Ja. she worked for governmental, non-governmental and inter-governmental organizations in the Caribbean to support environmental awareness, research and conservation. 

Since at least 2001 fishers in Jamaica have been complaining about dolphins extracting fish from their fish traps and nets. This has led to some fishers threatening to harm dolphins associated with the behavior.  This presentation will look at the behaviors used by bottlenose dolphins to extract fish from fishers’ traps and the development of possible mitigation measures that will help to reduce conflicts between dolphins and fishers.

***In Person Speaker***

Connie Sonnabend, Owner of Wetwear, will be talking in person at the meeting site. Wetwear is a family-owned business that has been designing and manufacturing custom wetsuits for over 40 years. We are the authorized vendor for U.S. Rescue Swimmer suits and also produce specialized suits for fire and police divers nationwide. Our focus has always been on durability, comfort, and performance in demanding conditions.

During my talk, I will share how custom wetsuit design improves safety, mobility, and efficiency for professional and recreational divers alike. I’ll discuss the evolution of wetsuit construction, what sets custom suits apart from stock suits, and introduce Wetwear’s unique “Easy-On” design, which allows users to get in and out of their suit in under a minute, along with our specialized collars and back-zipper system.

***In-Person Speaker***

Jim "Chiefy" Mathie is author of two underwater hunting publications, "Catching the BUG" and "Catching the Spear-it".  This presentation is about giving you some valuable tips on how to locally harvest spiny lobsters and fish, including lionfish. As a recreational diver, these tips are part of a three-step program for catching spiny lobsters and the ABCs of spearfishing. Easy and enjoyable, this presentation will increase your underwater hunting skills.

Jim retired in 2007 after serving 30 years with Deerfield Beach Fire Rescue. He advanced through the ranks from 1977 as a Firefighter/Paramedic, Rescue Supervisor, Fire Inspector, Training/EMS Lieutenant, Battalion Chief and retired as a Division Chief. His responsibilities as a Division Chief included Emergency Medical Services and Emergency Management.  For over 25 years Jim was also an adjunct faculty member at Broward Community College in the Emergency Medical Services Department. He holds an Associate of Science Degree from Broward Community College in Fire Science, a Bachelor of Science Degree from Nova Southeastern University in Public Administration and has completed numerous courses toward a Master of Science Degree at Florida International University in Adult Education. He received the Fire Chiefs’ Association of Broward County 2010 Lifetime Achievement Award.

Jim’s venture after retirement allowed him to fulfill a life-long passion of diving. Author of two books, Catching the BUG: The Comprehensive Guide to Catching the Spiny Lobster and Catching the Spear-it! The ABC’s of Spearfishing, Jim combined his years as an educator, underwater hunter and storyteller to create these easy-to-read publications.

Jim established CHIEFY, LLC in 2011 and his website can be viewed at www.chiefy.net or visit his Facebook pages at https://www.facebook.com/jim.mathie  or  https://www.facebook.com/chiefyllc, Instagram and YouTube Channel at Chiefycrew.

Jim also writes a column, Catching the Ocean View at the New Pelican Newspaper, and a contributor in The Weekly Fisherman radio show on WINZ 940AM.