Congratulations to Dr. Kara Lavender Law, SEA Research Professor of Oceanography, whose article, “Plastics in the Marine Environment,” was among the top ten downloaded articles out of 1,075 articles published in the scholarly journal, Annual Reviews, in 2017.

In the article, Dr. Law presents a comprehensive framework with which to evaluate the sources, distribution, and environmental impacts of plastic pollution in the ocean. The framework was a collaborative work of the Marine Debris Working Group of the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS) at the University of California, Santa Barbara, supported by Ocean Conservancy, of which Law was a co-Principal Investigator. The working group’s goal was to advance the scientific understanding of the problem in order to inform strategies to reduce or eliminate future contamination of the ocean by plastic debris.

For a limited time, the article may be accessed without a subscription here.

Captain Shawn Deweese, of South Yarmouth, MA, recently donated a custom crafted teaching model to Sea Education Association. The working model is designed to demonstrate the function of all nine sails and rigging aboard SEA’s two tall ships, SSV Corwith Cramer and SSV Robert C. Seamans.

“I was an alum of the high school program in 1996, so it was really great when I got the chance to sail aboard Cramer twenty years later as a guest,” said Captain Deweese. “It definitely hit home for me that sail training is still really valid for students in today’s day and age.”

SEA Semester alumnus Michael Jacobson (W-72) has been named as recipient of the 2018 Armin E. Elsaesser III Fellowship award.  Michael will use his award to travel to Orchid Island, southeast of Taiwan, to document the indigenous Tao people’s traditional boat building and fishing culture.  Photos and videos will be used to augment an exhibit at the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture at the University of Washington.

This afternoon we continued sailing through the Virgin Passage as we passed St. Croix, St. Thomas, and St. John. It was a hot 80 degree day with light wind and we were finally able to put up an additional two sails, the fisherman and the jib topsail. Two playful dolphins passed the ship twice throughout the day that circled the ship.

Zoya Buckmire, of St. George’s University in Grenada, talks completing her final academic assignments and Caribbean Reef Expedition’s conclusion in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

It was a bright and beautiful day in paradise today! Off in the distance, the island of Culebra was appearing in the distance through fog. If the plan works accordingly, Culebra is our snorkeling stop for a bit of fun exploring in the Caribbean waters…fingers crossed!