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In the early 1990s, Joyce was the driving force behind Clean Water Action—a community-based organization devoted to raising awareness about water quality problems in the Florida Keys and Florida Bay. Through the efforts of Clean Water Action, the plight of Florida Bay and the degradation of nearshore waters of the Florida Keys was brought to the forefront of public policy. Joyce made sure that the concerns of Clean Water Action were addressed by the management plan for the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, specifically the Water Quality Protection Program. More recently, Newman has turned her attention to increasing the awareness of local citizens about their environment. In 1997 she started Florida Keys Discovery—a non-profit community education project. The purpose of this project is to produce favorable attitudes toward protection and preservation of the Florida Keys' natural, historical and cultural resources and to help develop a well-defined sense of place. Using small grants and donations of in-kind services, she organizes an annual free, educational lecture series that "explores everything unique and wonderful about the Florida Keys." In summary, Newman has a clear vision of what she would like her community to be like and is quietly and steadily working to achieve that vision. Mark Robertson created The Nature Conservancy's Marine Program in the Florida Keys. This is one of a very few marine programs that The Nature Conservancy (TNC) has in the world. During his eleven-year tenure, Mr. Robertson was a conservation representative to the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, helping that group provide advice to NOAA in the development of a comprehensive management plan for the Sanctuary. Mr. Robertson provided very valuable assistance in developing this country's first marine zoning program, which is at the heart of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary's management efforts. Mr. Robertson's unfailing support of the Florida Keys National Sanctuary during an extremely difficult time helped NOAA confront Sanctuary opponents that were disseminating misinformation about the Sanctuary's draft management plan and proposed regulations in 1995. His efforts and the guidance that he provided were instrumental in educating the community about management strategies for the Sanctuary, and helping build a constituency for the Sanctuary. During Mr. Robertson's tenure at The Nature Conservancy Office of the Florida Keys, the Sanctuary's volunteer program was established. TNC continues to manage the program in an effective and efficient manner which has resulted in a tremendous contribution to all aspects of implementation of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary management plan. Wayne Blevins has been a lifetime advocate for the environment. Each year his dedication grows stronger while he continues to demonstrate his loyalty. In 1997 after the inception of the newly established Sanctuary Preservation Areas—eighteen; four Special Use Areas, and one Ecological Reserve within the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary (FKNMS)—Blevins helped arrange an underwater SPA clean up. Working directly with the FKNMS staff, Blevins estimated 110 divers participated in the clean up, held June 9, 1997. Divers retrieved hundreds of pounds of marine debris from the Molasses Reef SPA, one bag containing monofilament weighed over 50 pounds. This made such a tremendous impact on the community and abroad that the 1998 clean up was even bigger. More than 700 divers were estimated to have participated; 4 different law enforcement agencies, 100 boy scouts and numerous other participants. The event gained such significance exposure that Dr. Sylvia Earle herself traveled to Key Largo to join in. Blevins didn't stop with just the clean up efforts but tirelessly organized a post SPA clean up event, now known as the Barley's Bay Festival. He made contact with Peterson's Harley-Davidson of Miami who donated a 1998 Heritage Softail motorcycle. Other donations included a signed print by the Environmental artist, Wyland. The items raised money through the sale of raffle tickets which were selected later that evening at the Barley Bay Festival concert. The net proceeds totaling more than $10,000 were given to the Save Our Everglades Foundation and The Florida Keys Children's Shelter. Mike Collins has been a staunch supporter
of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary since it was created
by Congress in 1990. A professional fishing guide since 1975,
Mr. Collins has volunteered thousands of hours of his time to
participate in and chair the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.
In addition, Mr. Collins was a member of the Florida Keys National
Marine Sanctuary Water Quality Steering Committee Technical Advisory
Committee in 1994 and 1995 and has been a member of the Florida
Keys National Marine Sanctuary Water Quality Steering Committee
member since 1995. He has been a member of the Governor's Commission
for a Sustainable South Florida since 1994. While volunteering
as a member of each of these committees, Mr. Collins has shown
a tremendous depth of knowledge and understanding of the complicated
natural resource management issues facing the Florida Keys National
Marine Sanctuary. His ability to work with various groups, often
with competing interests, to resolve issues and develop management
strategies to balance the various user conflicts has been very Alan Cradick has donated a tremendous amount of his time and energy to providing support to the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. His contributions as a volunteer include assisting in the installation of marker buoys for the Sanctuary's zoned areas, providing logistical support to researchers working in the Sanctuary, participating in the Sanctuary's Team OCEAN and Coral Reef Classroom programs. Mr. Cradick's Team OCEAN efforts include training new volunteers in boat operation and on-the-water interpretation. He has spent hundreds of hours on the water as a Team OCEAN volunteer augmenting the Sanctuary's law enforcement with user-friendly interpretation of Sanctuary regulations and boating safety. He has conducted numerous coral reef clean-ups with local dive shops and assisted the Sanctuary's Coral Reef Classroom coordinator in providing on-the-water training for eighth grade students teaching them basic water sampling skills as well as snorkeling techniques and reef etiquette. His talents as a photographer and graphics artist have been used by the Sanctuary to develop public outreach materials. As a volunteer
for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), Mr. Cradick has
been involved in the installation of marker buoys for Wildlife
Management Areas included in the Florida Keys National Marine
Sanctuary. He has participated in beach clean-ups, independently
re-outfitted and updated the USFWS boats, and participated in
the USFWS exotic plants and tree eradication program at the Refuges.
Mr. Cradick worked with USFWS and the United States Coast Guard
to negotiate an agreement which resulted in the Coast Guard installing
marine boundary signs. The USFWS had been negotiating this agreement
for many years and it was through Mr. Cradick's Mr. Cradick was
responsible for the layout and design of the newsletter for the
Friends and Volunteers of the Refuges (FAVOR). He has also designed
the invitations and event programs for FAVOR. Mr. Cradick designed
the logo for the First Annual Birding and Wildlife Festival that
will be held in October 1999. Mr. Cradick has served as volunteer
photographer for the USFWS at numerous public events. He has
also represented the USWS at Outward Bound presentations and
at public workshops for Monroe County school children held at
the Dolphin Research Center. David Mattila has been at the forefront of research on humpback whales in the Western North Atlantic, and has contributed greatly to our knowledge of these magnificent animals through his work as one of the principal investigators for the Years of the North Atlantic Humpback (YONAH), working at NOAA's Stellwagen Bank NMS, and the greater Gulf of Maine, and the Caribbean. David has also conducted significant research on Humpback whales at Penguin Bank in NOAA's Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary. Most recently, he has played a leadership role in developing and expanding the Center for Coastal Studies Whale Disentanglement Program. He has, with diligence and integrity, reached out and helped to involve and engage the fishing community in this difficult and controversial issue, and helped to make disentanglement an essential tool in our efforts to deal with the critical whale entanglement problem. Mattila's keen wit, his quiet, self-deprecating humor, his deeply- rooted sense of honor and dignity, and his enviable ability to not take himself too seriously have made him an indispensable advisor, an important "reality check," and a good fellow to have along when the going gets tough. United States
Coast Guard Auxiliary Hannah Bernard is the Maui County Representative for the Hawaii SAC. She has been a marine biologist for the past 13 years with her primary focus being on marine mammals. She has worked with the California Department of Fish and Game, the National Marine Fisheries Service and the Southwest Fisheries Service Center and the marine mammal stranding network for San Diego County. She has also worked with the Atlantis Submarine, Earthtrust, and the Ocean Mammal Institute. She single handedly created the Support our sanctuary coalition and work to provide community support for the sanctuary. She was named the top environmentalist of the year by the Maui News and is the director of the Hawaii Wildlife Fund in Maui. Jim Coon has played an active role in protection of Hawaii's marine environment for the past 23 years. He is on the executive board of directors for the Hawaii Visitor's Bureau, the Maui Chamber of Commerce, and the Maui County Boat. He is also a former commercial fisherman and the owner and operator of Maui's oldest sail boat company. He was also the past Chairman of Governor Ariyoshi's Whale Sanctuary Advisory Committee. In the past, Trilogy excursions became the newest sanctuary sponsor. John Stark, as an employee of the Earth Foundation, initiated, coordinated, and successfully completed a project to help Texas students raise $23,000 for the purchase of radar reflecting marking buoys for NOAA's Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary. Mr. Stark worked with sanctuary staff to assemble educational materials and programs about the sanctuary and disseminate them to participating schools. He personally joined sanctuary staff in presenting Flower Gardens educational programs to students and teachers in the Houston metropolitan area. To increase his knowledge of the Flower Gardens, Mr. Stark participated in the annual education workshop at the Flower Gardens. Now, although he is no longer employed by the Earth Foundation, Mr. Stark continues to educate students and teachers about the Flower Gardens through his musical and story telling presentations. Mr. Stark's efforts have directly contributed to sanctuary protection efforts by providing the means to prevent anchor and towing cable damage to the coral reefs. They have further supported sanctuary goals by complementing staff efforts to educate the public about sanctuary resources, how they are threatened, and how those threats can be addressed. Navy's Mobile
Diving and Salvage Unit Two (MDSU-2) In late 1996, in response to reports that the Monitor's hull is deteriorating rapidly from a combination of natural causes and unauthorized human activities, Congress mandated that NOAA prepare a long-range preservation plan for the Monitor. In April 1998, the final plan, titled "Charting a New Course for the Monitor," was submitted to Congress. The plan evaluates a number of options for addressing the crisis at the Monitor site, and recommends a combination of stabilization of the Monitor's hull and recovery of major components of the wreck for conservation and exhibition. During a month-long expedition in June 1998, the U.S. Navy's Mobile Diving and Salvage Unit Two (MDSU-2), the Cambrian Foundation, the National Undersea Research Center/University of North Carolina at Wilmington (NURC/UNC-W) and The Mariners' Museum were partners in a major NOAA expedition to carry out the first phase of the long-range preservation plan for the Monitor. Expedition activities were carried out in two separate but related phases, with divers from NOAA, MDSU-2, and the Cambrian Foundation participating in Phase I and divers from NOAA, Cambrian Foundation, and NURC/UNC-W participating in Phase II. The Mariners' Museum participated in both phases. The expedition was highly successful in terms of meeting established goals and objectives and generating data required for the second phase of the long-range plan scheduled to begin in the summer of 1999. MDSU-2 provided highly-trained divers who performed a number of difficult tasks, including the recovery of the Monitor's propeller and 11 feet of the propeller shaft. MDSU-2 divers recorded expedition activities with still photography and videography, documented predetermined areas of the wreck, conducted sampling of specified areas on and around the wreck, and cut the propeller shaft in preparation for recovery of the propeller. They were responsible for rigging the propeller and section of shaft for recovery as well as for the actual recovery operation, which was carried out with no damage to the artifact. They also recovered a large iron deck plate, several iron plate segments, and other artifacts and samples. In addition to divers, MDSU-2 provided specialized equipment for the expedition as well as a recompression chamber required for Phase I diver operations and technicians to operate the chamber. The Cambrian Foundation, a private not-for-profit research organization based in Orlando, Florida, provided technical divers and specialized equipment for the 1998 expedition. Cambrian divers carried out tasks that included recording detailed measurements and observations of specific areas of the wreck and mapping and recovery of additional artifacts and samples. Cambrian divers also provided still photographic and video images of the expedition in progress. Divers donated their time and the use of their personal equipment to the project; many used vacation time or took time from their jobs without pay in order to participate in the expedition. NURC/UNC-W provided divers and specialized equipment to support Phase II diving operations. This group was responsible for the operation of the recompression chamber required for Phase II diving operations as well as for mixing the dive gas and filling the dive tanks. NURC/UNC-W divers provided still photographic images as well as measurements of specific areas of the wreck. They mapped and recovered artifacts and samples of coal from the wreck. They also provided a research vessel and captain as well a second vessel and captain for one week of the expedition to transport media and visitors to the site to observe expedition activities. The Mariners' Museum in Newport News, Virginia, designated the principal museum for the Monitor Sanctuary in 1987, provided conservation tanks for the large artifacts and conservators to develop treatment plans for the recovered artifacts and conserve them for eventual exhibition. The conservation of the propeller and other large artifacts is open to the public with Museum docents and volunteers providing tours of the conservation area to visitors. Museum staff are developing signage and graphics to facilitate understanding of the processes being employed in the conservation of these artifacts and to provide updates on the progress of the treatments. Conservation of the propeller and shaft is expected to take from three to five years to complete, at which time they will be on long-term exhibition at the Museum, which maintains a permanent exhibit on the Monitor that is currently being expanded for a July 1999 opening. Museum staff also responded to requests for information on the Monitor and the Monitor Sanctuary from members of the media during the expedition and provided access to film crews, photographers, and journalists desiring images of the Monitor exhibit to include in articles or stories about the expedition. Rachel Saunders was a leader in the citizen movement to designate NOAA's Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary in the early 1990s. As the local representative for CMC, she established a highly effective volunteer, interpretive docent program for the Sanctuary in the Monterey Bay region and the Cambria area. She has chaired the Sanctuary's Conservation Working Group for the past four years. She now is organizing an education program called SEA Camp Monterey Bay, a coastal and ocean science program for high school aged students. She continues to be an effective and active supporter for the local and national sanctuary program. Brian Baird, who is in charge of producing California's statewide strategy for protecting and managing the state's ocean resources, regularly cites the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary and its advisory council process as a model of integrated coastal zone management. Baird works in partnership with Sanctuary management to promote resource protection. He was instrumental in the state's accepting a $650,000 donation to develop a state-federal enforcement program for the sanctuary.
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