Erica Bennett of Action News recently put together a segment announcing the start of the lionfish harvest tournament currently ongoing off the coast of Jacksonville and St. Augustine. Divers are eager to capture as many lionfish as possible to help the health of the marine environment while competing to win the top tournament prizes. Fish collected will be provided to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission and the University of North Florida for further research into this epidemic invasion.
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Ocearch Great White Offshore Jacksonville Expedition
Team Ocearch and the MV Ocearch are currently sitting dockside near the Jacksonville Landing waiting for their great white shark Jacksonville expedition to begin. Tomorrow the team,and participating scientist and researchers, will depart offshore in hopes of finding and tagging a white shark.
Read More"The Last Reef" IMAX Event
Jacksonville University and TISIRI were invited to participate and speak at the release of the "The Last Reef" IMAX film at World Golf Village this past weekend. The film provides some amazing imagery of coral reefs around the while also pointing out how these fragile ecosystems are in jeopardy.TISIRI's Joe Kistel introduced each showing of "The Last Reef" providing insight to local marine conservation efforts here in north Florida. See a condensed version of Kistel's IMAX presentation below. Keep an eye out for the GIANT IMAX trigger fish.
Read MoreNortheast Florida Lionfish Blast Tournament
Enter the Northeast Florida Lionfish Blast lionfish harvest tournament. In an effort to encourage as much manpower as possible to harvest lionfish, a tournament awarding attractive prizes will be held throughout the month of April 2013. Prizes will be awarded in several categories with emphasis on most lionfish harvested.
Read MoreROLLINS COLLEGE AND TISIRI SERVICE TALBOT ISLAND
At Talbot Island our group preformed trail maintenance, pruning overgrown sections of the trail back so future park patrons had a clear path to follow. With a total group size of near twenty, 2 miles of trail were pruned relatively quickly. The trail terminated at the northern section of beach of Little Talbot Island and our group cleaned up trash and debris along the 2 miles of coast line back to the park pavilions.
Read MoreReef Clean Up Efforts; Pictures and Video
We visited a reef known as the school bus barge reef that rest roughly 12 miles east of the Mayport jetties. The barge sits in about 65 feet of water and is a popular fishing location due to its proximity to the inlet. Our goal was to remove entanglement hazards from the reef including fishing line and rope. Divers used scissors and snips to carefully remove line from reef structure and coral growth. Below are some pictures and video of the efforts.
Read MoreJacksonville Reef Clean-Up Scuba Diving Opportunity
We are coordinating a reef clean-up dive trip this Saturday 1-12-13. We will be removing fishing line and trash debris from popular reef sites. We do reef clean projects from time to time but have been motivated execute such efforts more frequently after recently finding a...
Read MoreFirst North Florida Reef Investigations of 2013
Winter months bring cold water, unpredictable weather, and great white sharks to north Florida. Regardless of these less then encouraging variables underwater reef investigations continue. TISIRI visited two reef locations; a natural ledge reef and a artificial concrete reef habitat deployed in 2011.The first reef visited was a 5 foot tall natural ledge system at an area known as Hospital Grounds to local offshore enthusiast. The ledge sits in about 100 feet of water and is home to a great diversity of sea life. We encountered large red snapper, gag grouper, and amberjack. A few pictures of the reef are below
Read MoreCoastal Angler Features TISIRI's Buried Sea Bass Discovery
I have thought I have seen it all when it comes to sea bass and their typical behaviors but during a recent aircraft wreckage investigation, we observed something that I have never observed before. We were at a site that contained very little structure including two partially buried civilian aircraft engines. Sea bass were everywhere. When swimming from one engine to another I noticed what I thought was a dead sea bass partially buried on its side. As I approached it I noticed its one exposed eye was moving and following me. I took a few pictures and moved on not knowing what I had just observed. A little bit further in my swim another sea bass popped out of the ground right in front of me. I did not see where he came from. From then on I started paying more attention and found three or four more sea bass buried like a flounder with one eye facing up. We have never seen this before!
Read MoreDiscovery Channel Features TISIRI
The Discovery Channel recently broadcast their TISIRI underwater investigation story. Click the image below to watch the story. Further below are behind the scenes images captured throughout the production efforts. TISIRI really enjoyed working with the production crew of the Discovery Channel.
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