Sea Research Foundation

Dear Friend: Let me begin as I will end, with a very happy Thanksgiving to you and your loved ones. As an organization we have much to be thankful for.  This past week we received a major gift towards our endowment.  Endowment funds are very important to the health of the organization.  They allow us to have a predictable source of revenue for specialized programs, which are funded through a percentage of the annual gain against what is called the corpus of the endowment, or the value of the endowment. That corpus also provides significant protection for the organization, just as a savings account or 401k fund does for an individual. I greatly appreciate when people make a gift towards an endowment.  In some ways it defers the immediate gratification of seeing a program funded at the maximum value of the gift.  However, it is really an investment in our future.  I want to thank our Director of Development, Megan Brown and Coordinator of Volunteers Tracy Sullivan for shepherding this important gift, which we will announce in more formally at a later date.  By the way, this brings our total gifts to date for the capital campaign to $4.5 million.   We are seeking to clear the $5 million mark by the end of the calendar year – and with your help I believe we can do it. Also this past week we received unofficial notification of a $200,000 corporate gift to the JASON organization to support youth programs for both JASON and Immersion Learning.  This is the first gift that we have received towards the new unified program and I want to congratulate the team, led by John Gersuk, who worked on it. Last week, Ritchie County Middle School, one of the three West Virginia schools that subscribe to The JASON Project, was featured on a local television station.  I would like to share the news clip with you.  Mollie Ferguson, who was an Educator-at-Sea on the E/V Nautilus this past summer, is shown in the television report. Late last week we received word from our colleagues at the South African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (SANCCOB) that 300 African Penguin chicks, abandoned at Betty’s Bay in South Africa have been brought in from the wild to be hand raised at the SANCCOB facility.  As you know, South African penguins are highly endangered and this is an important effort to sustain a large number of animals. Just yesterday yet another 155 chicks were brought in. I’ve included the full release at the bottom of this note. Supervisor of Penguins and Pinnipeds Laurie Macha travelled to South Africa to assist with all of the chicks, which is a labor intensive task.  Senior Trainer of Penguins and Pinnipeds, Sarah Misslin will go there when Laurie returns in two weeks.  Travel expenses for both Laurie and Sarah are made possible through funds raised by the annual “Run or Walk for the Penguins” held each October.  I appreciate that Laurie and Sarah have taken time away from family during this holiday season to assist with this important project. This time of year can be very difficult for individuals and families.  I want to remind you that you have access to the Employee Assistance Program (EAP) which provides confidential counseling services at no cost to all Sea Research Foundation employees.  Similar services are available to JASON employees through the end of the calendar year through National Geographic   Society and then through Sea Research Foundation.  This is an excellent resource for discussing personal issues ranging from substance abuse, problems with fellow employees or supervisors, to family issues.  This resource can be accessed for JASON employees by calling 800.634.6433. All other Sea Research Foundation employees can call 860.437.2188.  Again, this is a totally confidential service. Last week included some interesting journeys.  On Wednesday I had the privilege of meeting with former president of the University of Hartford and now president emeritus of George Washington University, Steven Trachtenberg.  Then on Thursday I visited with Members of Congress regarding the federal budget deliberations which impact Sea Research Foundation and The JASON Project.  I continue to be very appreciative of many members of Congress including Congressman Alan Mollohan, Congressman Joe Courtney, and Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro, to name a few, who have been so supportive of all that we do. Then on Friday, Trustee Tom Leiden joined me at The JASON Project offices in Virginia to learn more about that program.  Trustees Peter Drakos and Daniel Verdier met with Dr. Ballard and Disney exhibit designer Tim Delaney that same day to continue planning for the new United Technologies Ocean Exploration Center.  On Friday evening Tom Leiden and I travelled to Philadelphia to attend an event at the Port of Philadelphia, and then headed back to Washington, DC to meet with Sea Research Foundation fund raising counsel David Garamella on Saturday. Dr. Tracy Romano and I travelled to Tampa, Florida on Monday.  We met with Mote Marine Labs President Kumar Mahadavan and Senior Vice President for Research, Dr. Michael Crosby to discuss collaborative ventures in marine mammal research and conservation.  Sea Research Foundation and Mote have a long history of collaboration and they have tremendous expertise in a range of ocean related research.  During our visit we also met with Dr. John Reynolds who is Chair of the United States Marine Mammal Commission and Dr. Dana Wetzel who is a biochemist.  After two days of meetings at Mote and a tour of their new aquaculture facility, Tracy and I paid a visit to the Florida Aquarium in Tampa.  It is always enlightening to see how other organizations operate and it is fun to pick up ideas.  Tracy and I were particularly intrigued by the river otter exhibit at Florida Aquarium – and fortunately this is one idea that is on the exhibit team’s long-term plan! We are always pleased to host distinguished characters of all sorts, and Ruff Ruffman is among the most distinguished of all.  Recently, WGBH featured Mystic Aquarium’s Beluga whales in an episode of the popular show FETCH! With Ruff Ruffman.  In their own kind of Thanksgiving offering, WGBH has been kind enough to send Ruff Ruffman himself to host a special screening on Saturday, December 4, 2010.  Click here for details. Well, Stonington High School faces Westerly High School in the Turkey Day classic that is all the talk in my house.   Pat has been playing JV this year and might get some playing time during the game.  Meanwhile Danielle the gymnast has progressed to doing handstands on the balance beam and had a great score at her meet last weekend.  And earlier this year, Brendan informed me that he was taking the fall basketball season off but is contemplating returning to high stakes competition with other 6 year olds. Thanksgiving is a great holiday.  I hope that you have an opportunity to enjoy the day with some friends and family.  I am thankful to our Board of Trustees who give so much of their time and talent to support our mission, to our volunteers, donors, and to all of our staff.  Thanks to all of you and your hard work, Sea Research Foundation, together with The JASON Project, has had an outstanding year in 2010 and is poised to do great things in the coming year.  See you all soon. Steve  

SANCCOB NEWS FLASH – MORE AFRICAN PENGUIN CHICKS IN TROUBLE

SANCCOB admitted a further 155 penguin chicks from Dyer Island yesterday (23 November).  Since 11 November 2010 we have admitted a total of 415 chicks from moulting parents (256 from Betty’s Bay, 155 from Dyer and 4 from other areas). Of these birds 2 were admitted dead from the field and a further 16 emaciated and dehydrated birds have died, leaving us with a total of 397 to care for. These birds are in a significantly poorer condition than birds admitted in previous years, but we still hope to release 80% of these birds back into the wild. To put this into context, almost 1% of the entire AP population is currently living in SANCCOB’s facility.    If there had been no intervention it is almost certain that these chicks would have died due to dehydration, heat exhaustion and starvation.  Historically mass chick deaths as a result of abandonment were recorded in the early 1900’s but the more recent large scale abandonment of chicks are more crucial due to low number of birds left in the wild. These birds form part of the African Penguin Chick Bolstering Project. This is a collaborative project, led by the Bristol Zoo (UK), administered by SANCCOB in South Africa and local partners include the Department of Environmental Affairs, CapeNature, Avian Demography Unit at the University of Cape Town, Robben Island Museum and the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW).   The objectives of the Bolstering Project are to assess the breeding fidelity to rearing and release site of African penguin chicks, in order to identify the factors that are needed to establish new, sustainable colonies; to address the loss of African penguins by supplementing wild birds with locally reared birds; and to increase local capacity to hand rear African penguins for release into the wild at fledgling age. Evidence from recent research suggests that the introduction of fledgling chicks has a significant impact on conserving wild populations.  Chicks which have been hand reared and released have shown higher survivorship to breeding age and higher fecundity than other birds. (Barham et al 2008) (See paper attached for reference.) This therefore suggests that increasing the number of fledgling birds using hand rearing as a tool to aid wild populations could help to arrest the decline in overall numbers. This project has been actively running since 2006 and is now seen as one of the top three solutions in the race to conserve the African penguin population, while issues causing the decline need to be addressed at the same time. The African penguin population was reclassified as Endangered in July 2010 due to the continuous and rapid decline of the species. While some historic factors causing this decline have been addressed e.g. egg collection and guano scraping from seabird islands, the ongoing threats of shortage of food, oil pollution and predation are being addressed by the various mandated organizations in the environmental sector. To summarize, 1,866 orphaned chicks have been admitted from 2001 – 2009 and 79% (1,491 individuals) have been released as blues.                                Dear Friend: Let me begin as I will end, with a very happy Thanksgiving to you and your loved ones. As an organization we have much to be thankful for.  This past week we received a major gift towards our endowment.  Endowment funds are very important to the health of the organization.  They allow us to have a predictable source of revenue for specialized programs, which are funded through a percentage of the annual gain against what is called the corpus of the endowment, or the value of the endowment. That corpus also provides significant protection for the organization, just as a savings account or 401k fund does for an individual. I greatly appreciate when people make a gift towards endowment.  In some ways it defers the immediate gratification of seeing a program funded at the maximum value of the gift.  However, it is really an investment in our future.  I want to thank our Director of Development, Megan Brown and Coordinator of Volunteers Tracy Sullivan for shepherding this important gift, which we will announce in more formally at a later date.  By the way, this brings our total gifts to date for the capital campaign to $4.5 million.   We are seeking to clear the $5 million mark by the end of the calendar year – and with your help I believe we can do it. Also this past week we received unofficial notification of a $200,000 corporate gift to the JASON organization to support youth programs for both JASON and Immersion Learning.  This is the first gift that we have received towards the new unified program and I want to congratulate the team, led by John Gersuk, who worked on it. Last week, Ritchie County Middle School, one of the three West Virginia schools that subscribe to The JASON Project, was featured on a local television station.  I would like to share the news clip with you.  Mollie Ferguson, who was an Educator-at-Sea on the E/V Nautilus this past summer, is shown in the television report. Late last week we received word from our colleagues at the South African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (SANCCOB) that 300 African Penguin chicks, abandoned at Betty’s Bay in South Africa have been brought in from the wild to be hand raised at the SANCCOB facility.  As you know, South African penguins are highly endangered and this is an important effort to sustain a large number of animals. Just yesterday yet another 155 chicks were brought in. I’ve included the full release at the bottom of this note. Supervisor of Penguins and Pinnipeds Laurie Macha travelled to South Africa to assist with all of the chicks, which is a labor intensive task.  Senior Trainer of Penguins and Pinnipeds, Sarah Misslin will go there when Laurie returns in two weeks.  Travel expenses for both Laurie and Sarah are made possible through funds raised by the annual “Run or Walk for the Penguins” held each October.  I appreciate that Laurie and Sarah have taken time away from family during this holiday season to assist with this important project. This time of year can be very difficult for individuals and families.  I want to remind you that you have access to the Employee Assistance Program (EAP) which provides confidential counseling services at no cost to all Sea Research Foundation employees.  Similar services are available to JASON employees through the end of the calendar year through National Geographic   Society and then through Sea Research Foundation.  This is an excellent resource for discussing personal issues ranging from substance abuse, problems with fellow employees or supervisors, to family issues.  This resource can be accessed for JASON employees by calling 800.634.6433. All other Sea Research Foundation employees at 860.437.2188.  Again, this is a totally confidential service, kept in confidence by the EAP, not by the employer. Last week included some interesting journeys.  On Wednesday I had the privilege of meeting with former president of the University of Hartford and now president emeritus of George Washington University, Steven Trachtenberg.  Then on Thursday I visited with Members of Congress regarding the federal budget deliberations which impact Sea Research Foundation and The JASON Project.  I continue to be very appreciative of many members of Congress including Congressman Alan Mollohan, Congressman Joe Courtney, and Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro, to name a few, who have been so supportive of all that we do. Then on Friday, Trustee Tom Leiden joined me at The JASON Project offices in Virginia to learn more about that program.  Trustees Peter Drakos and Daniel Verdier met with Dr. Ballard and Disney exhibit designer Tim Delaney that same day to continue planning for the new United Technologies Ocean Exploration Center.  On Friday evening Tom Leiden and I travelled to Philadelphia to attend an event at the Port of Philadelphia, and then headed back to Washington, DC to meet with Sea Research Foundation fund raising counsel David Garamella on Saturday. Dr. Tracy Romano and I travelled to Tampa, Florida on Monday.  We met with Mote Marine Labs President Kumar Mahadavan and Senior Vice President for Research, Dr. Michael Crosby to discuss collaborative ventures in marine mammal research and conservation.  Sea Research Foundation and Mote have a long history of collaboration and they have tremendous expertise in a range of ocean related research.  During our visit we also met with Dr. John Reynolds who is Chair of the United States Marine Mammal Commission and Dr. Dana Wetzel who is a biochemist.  After two days of meetings at Mote and a tour of their new aquaculture facility, Tracy and I paid a visit to the Florida Aquarium in Tampa.  It is always enlightening to see how other organizations operate and it is fun to pick up ideas.  Tracy and I were particularly intrigued by the river otter exhibit at Florida Aquarium – and fortunately this is one idea that is on the exhibit team’s long-term plan! We are always pleased to host distinguished characters of all sorts, and Ruff Ruffman is among the most distinguished of all.  Recently, WGBH featured Mystic Aquarium’s Beluga whales in an episode of the popular show FETCH! With Ruff Ruffman.  In their own kind of Thanksgiving offering, WGBH has been kind enough to send Ruff Ruffman himself to host a special screening on Saturday, December 4, 2010.  Click here for details. Well, Stonington High School faces Westerly High School in the Turkey Day classic that is all the talk in my house.   Pat has been playing JV this year and might get some playing time during the game.  Meanwhile Danielle the gymnast has progressed to doing handstands on the balance beam and had a great score at her meet last weekend.  And earlier this year, Brendan informed me that he was taking the fall basketball season off but is contemplating returning to high stakes competition with other 6 year olds. Thanksgiving is a great holiday.  I hope that you have an opportunity to enjoy the day with some friends and family.  I am thankful to our Board of Trustees who give so much of their time and talent to support our mission, to our volunteers, donors, and to all of our staff.  Thanks to all of you and your hard work, Sea Research Foundation, together with The JASON Project, has had an outstanding year in 2010 and is poised to do great things in the coming year.  See you all soon. Steve  

SANCCOB NEWS FLASH – MORE AFRICAN PENGUIN CHICKS IN TROUBLE

SANCCOB admitted a further 155 penguin chicks from Dyer Island yesterday (23 November).  Since 11 November 2010 we have admitted a total of 415 chicks from moulting parents (256 from Betty’s Bay, 155 from Dyer and 4 from other areas). Of these birds 2 were admitted dead from the field and a further 16 emaciated and dehydrated birds have died, leaving us with a total of 397 to care for. These birds are in a significantly poorer condition than birds admitted in previous years, but we still hope to release 80% of these birds back into the wild. To put this into context, almost 1% of the entire AP population is currently living in SANCCOB’s facility.    If there had been no intervention it is almost certain that these chicks would have died due to dehydration, heat exhaustion and starvation.  Historically mass chick deaths as a result of abandonment were recorded in the early 1900’s but the more recent large scale abandonment of chicks are more crucial due to low number of birds left in the wild. These birds form part of the African Penguin Chick Bolstering Project. This is a collaborative project, led by the Bristol Zoo (UK), administered by SANCCOB in South Africa and local partners include the Department of Environmental Affairs, CapeNature, Avian Demography Unit at the University of Cape Town, Robben Island Museum and the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW).   The objectives of the Bolstering Project are to assess the breeding fidelity to rearing and release site of African penguin chicks, in order to identify the factors that are needed to establish new, sustainable colonies; to address the loss of African penguins by supplementing wild birds with locally reared birds; and to increase local capacity to hand rear African penguins for release into the wild at fledgling age. Evidence from recent research suggests that the introduction of fledgling chicks has a significant impact on conserving wild populations.  Chicks which have been hand reared and released have shown higher survivorship to breeding age and higher fecundity than other birds. (Barham et al 2008) (See paper attached for reference.) This therefore suggests that increasing the number of fledgling birds using hand rearing as a tool to aid wild populations could help to arrest the decline in overall numbers. This project has been actively running since 2006 and is now seen as one of the top three solutions in the race to conserve the African penguin population, while issues causing the decline need to be addressed at the same time. The African penguin population was reclassified as Endangered in July 2010 due to the continuous and rapid decline of the species. While some historic factors causing this decline have been addressed e.g. egg collection and guano scraping from seabird islands, the ongoing threats of shortage of food, oil pollution and predation are being addressed by the various mandated organizations in the environmental sector. To summarize, 1,866 orphaned chicks have been admitted from 2001 – 2009 and 79% (1,491 individuals) have been released as blues.