Woman smiling at camera with tropical vegetation in the background.

Congratulations to Melis Ӧkter for receiving the first, annual NOAA Diversity in External Services Award. Melis is one of our coastal management specialists supporting our subcontract with NOAA’s Office for Coastal Management. This award recognizes Melis’ work establishing partnerships and networks to create a safe space to learn and share about diversity and equity issues. Melis provided information and resources, such as risk communication and nature-based solutions, from the client to underserved communities. In addition, Melis is a leader of diversity, equity, and inclusion within the National Estuarine Research Reserve System, whose staff work closely with local communities. A big congratulations to Melis on this well-deserved award!

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expansive seagrass meadow

World Seagrass Day!  

Seagrasses are critical to coastal and ocean ecosystems, protecting coastlines from erosion, stabilizing ocean sediment, and improving water clarity. They provide food and shelter for aquatic life, including seahorses, turtles, thousands of species of fish, and more. In addition, they are amazing carbon sequesters, meaning they absorb atmospheric carbon reducing greenhouse gases. On World Seagrass Day, we…

New Contract. Same Great Work.

We’re pleased to announce a new small business joint venture with Paul Bechtel & Associates (PB&A), which was awarded a 5-year contract to continue supporting the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Office of Pesticide Programs.  For 40 years our staff have supported EPA’s Office of Pesticide Programs in the review and evaluation of pesticide data.…

long spined urchins in shallow water

Discovering the Urchin Killer 

A diver collects a long-spined sea urchin. Credit: Blake Gardner   Our employee owners were recently part of a team of detectives on a mission to discover the killer of long-spined sea urchins, Diadema antillarumy, throughout the Caribbean Sea. The infected urchins lose their spines, leaving them more vulnerable to predation or dying after a few…