Holy cow! Participants in the Northeast Florida Lionfish Blast tournament have already brought in close to 1200 invasive lionfish. We went out on a scouting trip this past weekend in preparation for a filming trip later this month. We decided to put a video teaser clip...
Read More2014 Northeast Florida LIonfish Blast Is Here
Read MoreTISIRI Awards Scholarship to Jacksonville University Artist
TISIRI is excited to announce that a scholarship has recently been awarded to Jacksonville University student Ali Pordeli. Ali is a creative individual with a phenomenal artistic skill set. We at TISIRI, without a doubt, feel his illustrations rival that of those created for Hollywood productions.
Read MoreNorth Florida Lionfish Rodeo Underwater Pictures
This past Saturday a Lionfish rodeo tournament took place offshore Jacksonville Florida. The goal of the event was to remove as many invasive lionfish as possible from the reefs offshore Jacksonville. TISIRI participated in the event and captured some photos of the marine life encountered at the reefs we are trying to protect. The Reefs visited were the Casablanca Reef and the BR Freighter. See a few of the marine life pictures captured during the dives below.
Read MoreTISIRI Awarded Earth Day Vistakon Grant
Earth Day events for 2013 were held at the Jacksonville Landing and although the weather was cold and dreary there was a great turnout. TISIRI was invited to participate in the festivities and to receive a grant sponsored by Vistakon through Earth Day Jacksonville. The grant is to support TISIRI's children's book project currently in the works. The book follows the story of ship that becomes an artificial reef and we at TISIRI are very excited about it. It allows us to better reach out to children about the significance of marine habitats while telling a truly engaging and visual story. Keep an eye for the book in the fall.
Read MoreNortheast Florida Lionfish Tournament Underway
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.
Read MoreOcearch 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.
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