Coast Week at Skidaway
August 23, 2010Special to Connect |
CoastWeeks is a national celebration of the nation's waters and shorelines.
The Skidaway celebration will kick-off on Sept. 17 with the Ocean Film Festival and end on Oct. 16 with the Skidaway Marine Science Day open house. In between, Skidaway will present a four-part lecture series that will focus on the future of the oceans.
Gray's Reef Ocean Film Festival
Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary will present its seventh annual Ocean Film Festival Sept. 17-19 at the Savannah College of Art and Design's Trustees Theater. Each year the award-winning festival uses its ocean issues focus to bring the latest sea-worthy documentaries and short environmental films to Savannah.
More than 90 films were submitted for consideration; 33 were selected for the festival in addition to ten films by SCAD students.
Several selections focus on the Gulf Coast region, an area of special interest in light of the Deep Water Horizon oil disaster. Filmmaker Jon Bowermester will bring his latest documentary, "SoLa, Louisiana Water Stories" on Sept. 18.
Admission is free to all the Ocean Film Festival programs.
For more information and a complete list of the films, see the Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary website at http://graysreef.noaa.gov.
Skidaway lectures
The institute will present its 2010 Fall Lecture Series entitled "Crystal Ball: Changes Afoot for Our Oceans and Coast in the 21st Century." The series will explore some of the pressing issues affecting the marine environment and what that means to mankind. Each program will be presented twice -- once at the Jewish Educational Alliance (JEA) on Abercorn Street in Savannah and the other in the McGowen Library Auditorium on the Skidaway campus.
All programs will begin at 7 p.m.
Skidaway Institute director Jim Sanders will kick-off the first program on Sept. 20, at the JEA and Sept. 23 at Skidaway. He will look at man's impact on the ocean. He will be joined by Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary superintendent George Sedberry who will discuss the issue of declining fisheries.
The Deepwater Horizon oil spill will be the subject of a presentation on Sept. 27 at JEA and Sept. 30 at Skidaway. Jay Brandes will explain the science behind the spill and clean-up. Elizabeth Mann will join him to discuss how changes at the very bottom of the marine food-web can affect life everywhere.
The Georgia coast will be the focus of the third program on Oct. 4 at JEA and Oct. 7 at Skidaway. Clark Alexander will explain how rising sea level impacts the coast and Bill Savidge will explore our salt marshes and how they contribute to the environment.
The final program will be on Oct. 11 at JEA and Oct. 14 at Skidaway. Marc Frischer will describe new scientific tools for tracking difficult-to-find non-source pollution in area waterways and Dana Savidge will explore the way scientists are developing and using new technologies to study the ocean.
Admission to the lectures will be $5 per program for adults. Members of the Skidaway Marine Science Foundation and The Learning Center, and students get in free.
Skidaway Marine Science Day 2010
The CoastWeeks celebration will wrap up with Skidaway Marine Science Day 2010. This afternoon of marine science programs, displays, tours and activities will be held from noon to 4 p.m. on the campus of the Skidaway Institute of Oceanography.
This campus-wide open house will be presented by the campus's marine research and education organizations. All activities will be free.
Activities will include tours of the research vessel Savannah and smaller research vessels; science displays on current research programs; hands-on science activities; science talks; a reptile show; a nature hike; touch tanks; and behind-the-scene tours of the aquarium.
Admission will be free to the University of Georgia Aquarium.
For more information, call (912) 598-2325, or visit www.skio.usg.edu.
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