Our divers have been hired by Dr. Chris Koenig to help gather data in the Madison Swanson grouper preserve South of Apalachicola. The site is a spawning ground for Gag and red grouper and has been closed to harvest for a number of years. Dr Koenig is monitoring the fish stocks there to help determine the not just the health of the fishery but also the effectiveness of preserves in protecting spawning aggregations.
Presently we striving to get mooring buoys installed for the more popular diving and fishing sites offshore Panama City, with the intent of servicing and maintaining them and a bargain price should funding be available. Our staff of AAUS qualified science divers are more than able to perform the service even under the outdated OSHA diving regs.
Coincidentally all of our divers have interned at the
NOAA Undersea Research Center's
Aquarius Habitat
in Key Largo. There they were able to work on several NASA's NEEMO
missions performing basic assistance running supplies in and out of the
habitat and keeping the hull of the habitat clean of encrusting marine
growth.