The Lazarette Gazette NEWS FROM The University of Texas at Austin MARINE SCIENCE INSTITUTE Port Aransas, Texas 78373-1267 Vol. 2, Issue 9, 7 May 1993 In this.issue of Lazarette Gazette Paul Montagna: Telecommunications needed at UTMSI ................... p.2Rick Tinnin: Mr. and Mrs. Fish Workshop ............................... p.2 Bourbon Bottles, Rattlesnakes, White Rocks (gardening at MSI) ............. p.2Regular sections: marine education services -p.2, editorial p.2, egabrag woes p. 3, ~ - personnel -p.4, trip reports & travel -p.5, seminars p. 5, letters to the editor -p. 5, tony's -tidings -·p.6, cruise reports & boat operations -p.6, attaboys -p. 7, editor's note -p.8 Consider this your official invitation to a party! Everyone (employees, students, ex-students, Advisory Council, PA friends ofBob Jones) is invited to a party at 5:30 p.m. on May 14 at the Wilson Cottages. The party is in honor of our nearly departed. Bob Jones has resigned effective at the end of this month. There will be two kegs of beer! Barbecue will be provided -two kinds: chicken and beef brisket. Come and bring: 1. spouse, 2. kids, 3. side dish, salad, or dessert. Over 50 elementary teachers attended the Mr. & Mrs. FISH workshop held the weekend of April 24th. They were entertained by the "FISHES" and participated in many hands-on classroom activities developed by two other workshop presenters, Pam Styker and Susie Parkinson from Austin. The RIV KATY was repaired just in time to host the participants on a cruise up the Lydia Ann channel for plankton and trawl samples. While halfthe group was on the KATY, Rick led the other participants to the jetties to investigate the invertebrates and macroalgae. The groups switched off about three pm so everyone was able to participate in both field trips. Two special guests from Dauphin Island, Alabama participated in the workshop also. Dr. John Dindo, Associate Director of the Marine Environmental Sciences Consortium and Director of the Dauphin Island Sea Lab and John DePlacido, an educator at the center, were particularly interested in the facilities and programs available at UTMSI. J"ohn Turany and Bob Huntington took the RIVKATY to Port Isabel the week of April 29-May 5 to support a MES workshop on Fish Ecology of the Lower Laguna Madre. The workshop was hosted by Dr. Frank Judd at the UT-Pan American Coastal Studies Laboratory on South Padre Island. Following the workshop, the KATY was host to school groups from Brownsville and McAllen before heading home to UTMSI. . -Rick Tinnin UTMSI needs an instructional telecommunications classroom. We currently have faculty and staff at both the Austin and Port Aransas campuses, and the Marine Science Institute is supposed to provide support for Marine Science to the University of Texas System. There are also increased needs for: faculty meetings, graduate student committee meetings, department and institute meetings, as well as other general purpose administrative meetings. Technology now exists to economically bridge the current distance gap. The technology is a "two-way" interactive video network. The video signal is carried over a digital line, called a T-1 line. These lines already exist in Port Aransas. It would cost about $70,000 to buy the equipment to implement this program. We would need a CODEC (which codes arid decodes the video signal into a digital format for transmission to and from the UT Systems Office of Telecommunications Services), a T-1 multiplexer (to divide and distribute the signals), 3 cameras, 2 monitors, and audio equipment. The equipment could be mounted on a roll-cart for use anywhere, but it is preferable to create a video classroom that is remodeled to ensure good .acoustics. A video telecommunication network would allow students in Austin and Port Aransas to take the same courses. This is called distance learning. Right now, there are four video classrooms in Austin: in Pharmacy, Engineering, Education, and the Law School. Ifwe had a video classroom in Port Aransas (it would be the only one in the College of Natural Sciences) we could schedule classes or meetings in any one of these four classrooms in Austin. The video network would also allow us to expand our offering of undergraduate courses, or offer enrollment in summer classes to Austin-based students. New graduate and undergraduate courses could be provided that offer field trips to Port Aransas. The Department of Marine Science could also become more involved in current plans to offer a multidisciplinary program m Environmental Science, or an undergraduate opti-On in Field or Conservation Biology. Distance learning will have an impact on academics. The professor must be thoroughly prepared, but this practice is basic to improving teaching skills. The extra preparedness involves employing the following practices: classes must start and end punctually, lectures must be well organized with visual materials, remote class members must be included iri discussions, and the professor must be familiar with the equipment. Staffing levels would be only minimally impacted. Someone will have to be present at the receiving site, this can be a teaching assistant, or another professor who is "team-teaching" the course. Everyone at UTMSI would benefit from a video network. It would solve attendance problems for courses and committee meetings. Whether the meetings are for graduate students, faculty or administration, someone is always left out. And, ifjust one or two students from Austin sign up for a Port Aransas-based course, it could make up the difference between that course having the required minimum number of students or not being taught at all. The greatest value might be in fostering better communication with our colleagues on the main campus, which would make us truly part of The University of Texas at Austin. -Paul Montagna Are the MSI palm trees too tall and the grass too neatly trimmed and mowed? Once (or maybe more than once) someone suggested that to be the case. It was felt every dollar should go directly into science. Way upstairs it has been decided the university will mow its grass, and a very small portion of the funds so designated eventually reach Port Aransas. ·PA Administration does not have the option of spending those funds on the library or scientific staffsalaries. It was not always so. For the first halfofMSI's almost fifty years the MSI appropriation was in one small pot-if a palm tree was purchased it meant one less book in the library. Consequently, no palm trees were purchased. And mowing-or lack of mowing-played a part in some early MSI tales (some perhaps apocryphal). • At first the MS! buildings were combination labs I residences. When Dr. X had finished his half-pint bottle of bourbon, he would just heave it offthe porch and into the . tall sunfiowers and grass. Dr. X decided that whenever he heard two bottles clink, it would be time to leave Port Aransas. Finally they did clink; he submitted his resignation shortly thereafter. • Dr. Y, who was very afraid ofrattlesnakes, had young children. When Dr. Y saw a rattlesnake in the tall grass near the library (now Dorm A) he swore to shoot the Director ifa rattlesnake bit one of his children. • The grass and sunfiowers, being about six feet tall, could not be mowed by an ordinary hand mower. And in the late fifties there were no tractors in Port Aransas. A commercial mower came over from Aransas Pass but left without completing the job (probably hit too many bourbon bottles). The operator said he wouldn't come back for "any amount of money". • Maintenance Man Jesse Esparza used a hand mower to cut the grass. Jesse got so many sand burrs stuck in his ankles that they became infected, requiring him to be hospitalized. • My predecessor at MS! worked less than three months before returning to civilization. During that time he attempted to establish formality and order (he was a retired military officer) to the MS! grounds. This was accomplished by gathering many small rocks from the jetty, painting them white, and placing them in rows to designate where one should drive, where one should park, and where one should refrain from walking on the grass. (Dr. Z got one of these painted rocks caught between the tire and fender on his new Corvair and vowed to throw the next one through the Director's window.) ·' Now there is a separate budget and a grounds maintenance staff. John Yarbrough (aboard the RIV Mowsalot on the cover) is the Grounds Supervisor, and the crew consists of Gardeners Mike Gibson, Moy Guajardo, and Benny Rodriguez, and Maintenance Worker II, David Hernandez. The grass is mowed regularly now. However Dr. Y's rattlesnakes didn't know they were supposed to leave town when the grass was mowed. Only a few years back a MSI Gardener was bitten by a rattlesnake. He didn't shoot anybody, but-just as soon as he got out of the hospital-he did go back to New Jersey. -John Thompson Jian Li is a new Postdoctoral Fellow working with Paul Montagna in the Goomex program. Jian plans to be at MSI for two years. His home town is Xiamen Island, which is on the southern coast of mainland China. After finishing his BSc at Xiamen University, he worked in the 3rd Institute of Oceanography for 5 years on benthos. He finished his MSc at the Free University of Brussels with a special study of freeliving nematodes, and later received his Ph.D. from the University of Ghent, working on temporal and modelling studies of free-living nematodes. This is the first visit to the United States for Jian and he is accompanied by his wife, Luqian, and daughter, Beili Li. Billy Dorris is a student at Port Aransas High School who is working a few hours after school for Marine Education Services. Billy helps with the aquaria and other exhibits. Billy is a native of Port Aransas. John Yarbrough -Employees and students for the last 13 years will recognize MSI's John Yarbrough on the masthead. For others, we note that John Yarbrough is the stern taskmaster of the five man gardening crew at Port Aransas. In 1985 John received a UT President's Excellence Award. (These awards recognize consistent, high-level performance of employees.) The MSI grounds have twice received Yard-ofthe-month awards by the Port Aransas garden club. John is originally from Alice where he once had his own commercial nursery. He is a graduate of the Duluth Vocational and Technical Institute where he trained in horticulture, and later was invited back to give a lecture series to horticulture students. While John is considered the stern taskmaster he also has a reputation as being himself the hardest worker with a weed eater since John Henry gave up gardening for railroad work. Additions to Honor Rolls -LazGaz regretfully did not include the following students in last issue's "proud parents of" H. G. Olsen Elementary School A Honor Roll Third Grade -Lindsay Moore H. G. Olsen Elementary School AJB Honor Roll Third Grade -Nikki Buskey Take Our Daughters to Work Day-The Marine Science Institute was one ofmany organizations which participated in the Take Our Daughters to Work Day event on April 28. This was an attempt to let girls ages nine to 15 go to work with their mothers-watching them work, and talking with them about careers. The girls who participated at UTMSI were Stacy Mills (Venus), JoAnna Jackson (Kim), Stephanie Tinnin and Patricia Tinnin (Lynn). The girls received special name badges which designated why they were present. Not only the mothers of these girls showed them around MSI, but other women pitched in, too. Linda Fuiman, Cammie Coulter, and Andi Wickham showed the participants facets of their careers. A lunch was enjoyed by the girls at the MSI cafeteria. Later, the South Jetty came by and took a picture of the daughters and mothers. The support from the higher-uppers was great! A big thank you to all those who helped with this effort. -Venus Mills 4 MSI Cub Scouts Win in Pack 29 Regatta -Chris Kalke won the trophy for the fastest sailboat in Port Aransas Pack 29 Raingutter Regatta and Alex Seguin won the champion trophy for the best looking sailboat. Tough competition was provided by Sean Cantu, James Cantu, and Brince Abel. Rick Kalke ''graduates"-Rick Kalke has successfully survived five long years as Cub Scout Leader only to graduate to Boy Scouts as the new Scoutmaster of Port Aransas Boy Scout Troop 29. Rick is the father of new Scout Chris Kalke. Rick was welcomed to the Boy Scouts in an induction ceremony at the Scout banquet Saturday, May 1. At the same time, Doyle Grundy (spouse of MSI Librarian Ruth Grundy) was honored for 23 years as Committee Chairman and Scoutmaster. Only 23 more years to go Rick! April 24 -May 7 travel +Peter Thomas, April 17 -28, Gottenburg, Sweden, present paper Binding ofMetals to Vitellogenin and Changes in the Metal Content of Tissues During Vitellogenesis in Sciaenid Fishes; and present paper Interactions ... Spotted Seatrout Ovaries, and present paper Reproductive...in Female Atlantic Croaker at the 7th International Symposium on Responses to Marine Organisms to Pollutants. +Ron Benner, April 25 -30, Washington, D.C., to serve on a NSF review panel. +P. L. Parker, Dick Scalan, Beth Trust, College Station, to attend the Spring Southern Regional Geochemistry Meeting. +Andy Zimmerman, May 5 -7, Galveston, denitrificatin project sample collection. • Dr. Jill Slattery, National Institute of Health, National Cancer Institute, April 29, Genetic diversity, population structure, and species evolution: examples from bivalves and carnivores. This is not a letter to the Editor; it is a "communication" from Dick Zinser. Dick sent Mike Leggett's Texas Fishing Report from the April 15 issue of the Austin American Statesman. Dick felt we would all want to know about the healing powers of catfish slime! According to the article, the best antidote for a catfish wound may be the belly slime that's found on the outside of catfish. So remember, the next time a catfish gets you -just smear on the belly slime. (If this fails to restore you to immediate health, please contact Dick direct.) Tide Predictions -May 10 23 (For tidal heights at the tide tower, South Jetty, the Aransas Pass. Heights are in feetabove or below mean sea level. The shaded area is nighttime. Remember, this is tidal height, not tidal current. Slack water is whenthe wiggly line crosses the MSL line, not at peaks and valleys, where the tidal current will be a full flood or ebb.) IIll IH Ill (j) HI (j)~ I0 ~ -:;: -:;: ~ ~ I Ill 2 IH Hrn (j) I 1 G)~ I0 ~ -:;: ~ -1 -:;: ~ Weather Report-April 19-May 2 New Winch -On April 6th the DYNACON, MODEL 2600, TRAWUCORING WINCH was given itsfactory test run and the cable off the old winch spooled onto it. The new winch was loaded on the U.T.trailer and brought to Port Aransas for installation aboard RIVLONGHORN on April 26th. Due to the overall weight of winch and cable (11,500 lbs.) a motor crane from Corpus Christi was required to set the~inch on the mounting pad. The new winch was initially powered up on the ship on the 28th of April andreceived its first sea trial on a class trawling trip just two days later. The new DYNACON operatedflawlessly with only minor rigging problems occurring (to the trawl not the winch) due to the changefrom over the side to stern trawling. The ships' crew are in total agreement that the DYNACON works farbetter than the old winch, even when the old one was new. 6 Cable Capacity -12,000 ft. 1/2 inch 3 X 19 (currently have 9,600 ft. 3 X 19 on winch) or 9,000 ft..680 conductor cable. Slip Rings -2 and 4 conductor available. Level Wind -DYNACON's patented electro active. Power Supply -40 hp. electric power pack self contained Local Control -At winch station; has cable out and line speed readouts in either feet or meters. Remote Control -Remote control labs or deck via 50 ft. of cable. Line Pull -Bare drum, 13,000 lbs.(average pull on 6 dyno tests) Static Break -21,000 lbs. With the addition of this winch, provided by a grant from the National Science Foundation, the RIV LONGHORN has increased its capacity in weight handling and operating depth. Last year a new deck crane was installed aboard along with modifications and improvements to the stern A-frame. With these additions and the two DYNACON hydrographic winches already aboard, RIV LONGHORN now has all state-of-the-art winches and deck handling equipment for a research vessel of her size. -Don Gibson • I am writing to thank you for your courtesy and cooperation in making our scfonce trip such ·a success. The students, teachers, and sponsors had a .very enjoyable and educational trip that will be remembered for a long time. We arrived safely home with our specimens and now have some new additions to our sea water aquarium in our high school library. Not only did the 22 students who actually attended reap benefits, but those students left here in Ralls are gaining new knowledge from our trip. We have shared our learning experience with those ranging from pre-K to 12th graders. This is a learning experience for all ages. I know that our students, teachers, and sponsors have a renewed outlook on the ocean and its inhabitants, due to your crew aboard the KATY, John and Bob. They were of great benefit to our students. They were exceptionally courteous ·and extremely helpful during our time aboard the KATY. We look forward to seeing you again next year. Our plans are to bring two groups with us, but we will send you a formal request, including dates, at a later time. (To: Rick Tinnin with plaudits also to John Turany and Bob Huntington; from Faith Ballard, High School Principal, Ralls Public Schools.) • Thanks for your superb job in providing delicious meals for our hungry crowd at the Mr. and Mrs. FISH workshop April 24. The comfort ofthe participants, food, and accommodations, is often as important to the success ofa workshop as is the materials presented. We received "rave reviews" from all the participants for your good food, friendly service, and happy smiles which made everyone feel welcome. This was more than a job well done. It is a level of service and high expectations which reflects very positively on the entire Marine Science Institute. Thank you, Toni and Anita, for ensuring a successful workshop. (To: Toni Martinez and Anita Mireles; From: Rick Tinnin) The Lazarette Gazette is fast approaching its first anniversary. Most of each issue now falls into :·:· .. .. place very easily. There is an inexhaustible supply ofscow garbage for Egabrag Woes (you m_ay have ........... .. .::::::::::::: ::::: noticed the garbage sometimes spills over into the Editor's Note). The big problem is finding a good lead article. Beyond the routine news and fun, each issue needs an article of interest and general appeal on a current science project or travel or perhaps a significant cruise report. The LazGaz is dependent on you for these articles. I don't do science, never go anywhere, and mylongest cruises are back and forth across the ship channel in my 14 ft. Laser sailboat. Sooo...I can't write these feature articles. It is up to you folks on the cutting edge of science, diving under the ice in the Arctic, naming geographic features of the Antarctic (RACER Rocks), or having them named after you (Wohlschlag Bay), cruising the Arabian Sea, voyaging up the Amazon River and, yes, studying 50 million viruses in a teaspoon of sea water and looking at fish ears. Thanks for helpwith this issue of the LazGaz to Kathy Quade, Linda Yates, Patty Baker, Lynn Amos, Venus Mills, Tony Amos, Andi Wickham, JoAnn Page, and especially Paul Montagna, Don Gibson, and Rick Tinnin. More on the Egabrag Woes white rocks: when I came to MSI, having been not so long before at Camp Pendleton, I didn't see anything unusual about having white rocks lined up to control where I walked, but I wondered where one found white rocks in Port Aransas. We returned the rocks to the jetty. Ifyou look long enough you may find one there yet. Please don't look; spend the time writing a feature article for the Lazarette Gazette. -John Thompson 8