An International Journal ‘‘Windows on the Sea’’ Southern Association of Marine Laboratories: The First 25 Years JOHN W. TUNNELL,JR. Published by the Marine Environmental Sciences Consortium of Alabama Gulf of Mexico Science, 2010(1–2), pp. 230–235 ‘‘Windows on the Sea’’ Southern Association of Marine Laboratories: The First 25 Years JOHN W. TUNNELL,JR. he Southern Association of Marine Labora- ships. A subsequent report, submitted to NSF T tories (SAML) was formed in 1985 for the after that meeting and distributed to the science purpose of uniting marine labs across the community, described the deficiencies in labs southeast and bringing more attention to marine and proposed an infrastructure for a competitive labs and science research in the southeast. funding program to address the issue. A program Today, there are 60 members, ranging geograph- was later funded, but at a miniscule level ically from coastal Maryland through Texas to compared to what was needed, and it still exists Bermuda and Panama. SAML is a regional today. organization within the National Association of Don Boesch, Harold Howse, Bob Jones, Kumar Marine Laboratories (NAML), along with two Mahadevan, Paul Sandifer, and Ken Tenore were other regions, the Northeastern Association of all at the Costlow meeting and decided they Marine and Great Lakes Laboratories should get together and form a marine labora- (NEAMGLL) and the Western Association of tory organization for the South. Don Boesch was Marine Laboratories (WAML). NAML currently particularly passionate with his statistics of how has almost 100 total members. SAML meetings little money the South got in comparison with are held annually each spring. In addition, a the Northeast and West Coast. Harold Howse NAML biennial meeting is held in the fall of offered to have the first organizational meeting. odd-numbered years, and a NAML winter meet- All marine lab directors from North Carolina ing is held in Washington, DC, each year. through Texas were invited. The first organizational meeting for SAML was Objectives.—The objectives of SAML are as held 5–6 Dec. 1985, at the Gulf Coast Research follows: Laboratory, Ocean Springs, MS, and was hosted by Director Harold Howse. The meeting was N To promote cooperation and effectiveness of attended by 14 scientists from 11 marine labs and member institutions in their work on marine was chaired by Paul Sandifer. Positive discussions and coastal resources about the need and purpose for such an N To promote the wise use and conservation of organization led to the development of articles marine and coastal resources of organization and bylaws during spring 1986. N To promote the importance of marine re- The first official SAML meeting was at the Gulf search and education to the economy and to Coast Research Lab in May 1986. Harold Howse society was the nominating committee’s sole nominee N To promote research initiatives related to for president of the group. There were 20 marine and estuarine resources regular and two associate members present at N To provide a forum for resolving problems this inaugural meeting. common to marine laboratories in the region SAML meetings occurred two times per year between 1986 and 1998; since 1999, they have History.—John Costlow from Duke University been held annually (in spring). Meetings are might be credited with the idea of joining held at member laboratories, generally alternat- southern labs together into an organization. ing between the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts, so According to founding member Kumar Mahade- members get to see as many different labs as van, John called together about 25 folks from possible. Typically, meetings include an evening southern marine labs to a National Science reception, followed by a day and a half of Foundation (NSF)-sponsored meeting in spring meetings dealing with ‘‘internal’’ and ‘‘exter- 1985 to look at the quality and needs of marine nal’’ issues of operating a marine laboratory. A research facilities. At the meeting, John went tour of the local facilities is also included during into his usual rant and rave about the federal the annual meetings. Internal issues include government not investing in small labs, and that ideas and discussions to help member directors labs should organize at the national level and better deal with the day-to-day operations of a pressure NSF to put more funding into coastal marine lab; external issues deal with broader, labs and not just the big oceanographic labs and current state and national topics regarding E 2010 by the Marine Environmental Sciences Consortium of Alabama TUNNELL—SOUTHERN ASSOCIATION OF MARINE LABS 231 TABLE 1. History of SAML meeting locations between 1985 and 2010, including meeting dates and local hosts. Location of SAML meetings Dates Local host Gulf Coast Research Lab 5–6 Dec. 1985 Harold Howse Ocean Springs, MS Gulf Coast Research Lab 2 May 1986 Harold Howse Ocean Springs, MS South Carolina Wildlife and Marine Resources Oct. 1986 Paul Sandifer Department Charleston, SC Mote Marine Laboratory May 1987 Kumar Mahadevan Sarasota, FL Department of Marine Science Oct. 1987 John Kubaryk University of Puerto Rico Mayaguez, PR Institute of Marine Science April 1988 Jim Alberts University of Georgia Sapelo Island, GA Marine Science Institute 11 Oct. 1988 Bob Jones University of Texas Port Aransas, TX Belle W. Baruch Institute 18–20 April 1989 Roger Jones University of South Carolina Georgetown, SC Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium 31 Oct.–2 Nov. 1989 Paul Sammarco Chauvin, LA Bermuda Biological Station for Research 7–9 May 1990 Tony Knap Bermuda Senate Hart Office Building 18–20 Sept. 1990 Kumar Mahadevan Washington, D.C. Duke University Marine Lab 8–10 April 1991 Joe Ramus Beaufort, NC Chesapeake Biological Laboratory 9–11 Oct. 1991 Ken Tenore University of Maryland Solomons, MD Dauphin Island Sea Lab 31 March–2 April 1992 Judy Stout Dauphin Island, AL Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute 30 Sept.–2 Oct. 1992 Rick Herman Fort Pierce, FL University of Texas—Marine Biomedical Institute 2–3 April 1993 Roger Hanlon and David and Texas A&M University at Galveston Schmidly Galveston, TX (in conjunction with NAML) 29–31 Oct. 1993 John Vernberg Hatfield Marine Science Center Oregon State University Newport, OR Whitney Laboratory 5–7 May 1994 Michael Greenberg University of Florida St. Augustine, FL Gulf Breeze Environmental Research Lab 15–16 Oct. 1994 Bob Menzer Pensacola, FL Belle W. Baruch Institute 27–28 April 1995 John Vernberg Georgetown, SC Mote Marine Laboratory 24–27 Oct. 1995 Kumar Mahadevan Sarasota, FL 232 GULF OF MEXICO SCIENCE, 2010, VOL. 28(1–2) TABLE 1. Continued. Location of SAML meetings Dates Local host Skidaway Institute of Oceanography 8–10 March 1996 Herb Windom Savannah, GA Center for Coastal Studies 25–27 Oct. 1996 Wes Tunnell Texas A&M University—Corpus Christi Corpus Christi, TX Florida State University 8–9 March 1997 Nancy Marcus Tallahassee, FL (in conjunction with NAML) 11–14 Sept. 1997 Ken Tenore Chesapeake Biological Lab Solomons, MD Virginia Institute of Marine Science 3–5 April 1998 John Milliman Williamsburg, VA University of Southern Mississippi 4–6 Dec. 1998 Jay Grimes Institute of Marine Sciences Biloxi, MS Horn Point Environmental Laboratory 9–11 April 1999 Steve Jordan and Oxford Laboratories Oxford, MD (in conjunction with NAML) 23–26 Sept. 1999 Art Brooks Great Lakes Water Institute University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI Florida Marine Research Institute 31 March–2 April 2000 Ken Haddad St. Petersburg, FL The Marine Center at Fort Johnson 6–8 April 2001 Bob Van Dolah Charleston, SC Mote Marine Laboratory 17–19 May 2002 Kumar Mahadevan Sarasota, FL Duke University Marine Laboratory 30 April–2 May 2003 Mike Orbach Beaufort, NC Galveston Laboratory 12–14 May 2004 Roger Zimmerman National Marine Fisheries Service Galveston, TX Center for Marine Sciences 11–13 May 2005 Dan Baden University of North Carolina, Wilmington Wilmington, NC ‘‘20th Anniversary Meeting’’ 11–13 April 2006 Wes Tunnell Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies, Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi, TX Skidaway Institute of Oceanography and 25–27 April 2007 Jim Sanders and Matt Savannah State University, Savannah, GA Gilligan Pritzker Marine Biology Research Center, 26–27 March 2008 Sandra Gilchrist and Kumar New College of Florida and Mote Marine Laboratory Mahadevan Sarasota, FL Estuarine Research Center, Morgan State University, 27–28 March 2009 Kelly Clark and Tuck Hines St. Leonard, MD and Smithsonian Environmental Research Center Edgewater, MD US Environmental Protection Agency 12–14 April 2010 Steve Jordon Gulf Ecology Division Gulf Breeze, FL TUNNELL—SOUTHERN ASSOCIATION OF MARINE LABS 233 TABLE 2. Gulf of Mexico members of SAML. TABLE 2. Continued. Center for Coastal and Marine Studies Pritzker Marine Biology Research Center Lamar University New College of Florida Beaumont, TX Sarasota, FL Center for Coastal Studies Texas Institute of Oceanography Texas A&M University—Corpus Christi Texas A&M University—Galveston Corpus Christi, TX Galveston, TX Coastal and Marine Laboratory U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Florida State University Gulf Ecology Division St. Teresa, FL Gulf Breeze, FL Coastal Fisheries Branch Vester Field Station Texas Parks and Wildlife Department Florida Gulf Coast University Austin, TX Bonita Springs, FL Coastal Studies Laboratory University of Texas—Pan American South Padre Island, TX marine research and education. To date (sum- Conrad Blucher Institute for Surveying and Science mer 2010), meetings have been held at 31 Texas A&M University—Corpus Christi different laboratories (Table 1). Corpus Christi, TX Membership grew from 20 laboratories in the Dauphin Island Sea Lab spring of 1986 to a high of 65 laboratories during Marine Environmental Sciences Consortium 2001. During the difficult economic times of the Dauphin Island, AL early 2000s, membership dropped to 41 labs in Florida Marine Research Institute 2003. Currently, there are 60 SAML members.