2008 Mississippi-Alabama Bays & Bayous Symposium Proceedings

237 Pages·2008·5.23 MB·English

Mississippi-Alabama
Bays and Bayous
Symposium Proceedings
October 28-29, 2008
Mississippi Coast Coliseum
and Convention Center
Biloxi, Mississippi
MASGP-08-037

Mississippi-Alabama Bays & Bayous Symposium

Sponsors

Without these organizations, this symposium would not be possible.

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Acknowledgments

A symposium of this nature cannot succeed without the efforts and cooperation of a great
number of individuals and their employers. We thank all presenters who submitted abstracts and
made oral or poster presentations. This cutting-edge information will be of value to resource
managers, policy makers, and citizens.

Planning and oversight for the symposium was provided by the symposium Steering Committee.
We deeply appreciate the members’ time and dedication to the final product.

Symposium Steering Committee:
• Dave Burrage – MSU Coastal Research & Extension Center and Mississippi-Alabama
Sea Grant Extension Program
• Chris Boyd – MSU Coastal Research & Extension Center and Mississippi-Alabama Sea
Grant Extension Program
• John Bowie – The Gulf of Mexico Program
• Mike Carron – Northern Gulf Institute
• Todd Davison – NOAA Gulf Coast Services Center
• John Dindo – Dauphin Island Sea Lab
• Martha Duvall – Gulf Coast Research Lab, The University of Southern Mississippi
• Jean Ellis – NASA Stennis Space Center
• Bill Hawkins – Gulf Coast Research Lab, The University of Southern Mississippi
• Tom Herder – Mobile Bay National Estuary Program
• Sharon Hodge – Northern Gulf Institute
• Amy King – ADCNR State Lands Division, Coastal Section
• John Mareska – Alabama Marine Resources Division
• Joanne McDonough – Alabama Gulf Coast Convention & Visitors Bureau and Auburn
University Marine Extension Research Center
• Dave Ruple – Grand Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve
• Tina Sanchez – NOAA Gulf Coast Services Center
• Michael Shelton – Weeks Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve
• Stephanie Showalter – Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Legal Program
• Tina Shumate – Mississippi Department of Marine Resources
• Jody Thompson – Auburn University Marine Extension Research Center and Mississippi-
Alabama Sea Grant Extension Program
• Bill Walker – Mississippi Department of Marine Resources
• Sharon Walker – The University of Southern Mississippi and Mississippi-Alabama Sea
Grant Consortium

Special thanks to the following Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium employees who
served on the Symposium Steering Committee and worked tirelessly behind the scenes to make
this event a success. They are: Kay Bruening, Devaney Cheramie, John Grigsby, Loretta Leist,
Melissa Schneider, Steve Sempier, and Tracie Sempier.
Finally, we wish to thank the sponsors. Without these organizations, this symposium would not
be possible.

LaDon Swann, Director
Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium
Auburn University Marine Extension and Research Center
Preface

This meeting began in 1979 and was titled Alabama’s Bays, Bayous and Beaches
Symposium. In 1987, the symposium sought to update the findings of the 1979
symposium and widened the scope of papers to include the economic importance of
coastal waters, educations programs and habitat restoration.

The 1995 symposium continued the tradition of scientific management reports while
reaching out to local industry and governments. Water quality, watershed management,
government cooperation and citizen involvement, government cooperation and citizen
involvement were key topics addressed by a variety of papers. The stage was set for a
new spirit of cooperation between Baldwin and Mobile counties in managing Alabama’s
coastal waters. Shortly after the symposium, Mobile Bay was approved for inclusion in
the National Estuarine Program.

In 2006 it was decided that the meeting would be held every two years, rotating
between Alabama and Mississippi, with the name rotating with each state (Alabama-
Mississippi Bays & Bayous Symposium and Mississippi-Alabama Bays & Bayous
Symposium). The 2006 meeting was held at the Mobile Convention Center in Mobile, AL,
and drew more than 300 participants. There were 59 oral presentations and 37 poster
presentations during the two concurrent sessions over the two-day period. Topics included
water quality; living resources; habitat management; and natural hazards and coastal
development.

We are pleased to host the 2008 Symposium at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum and
Convention Center in Biloxi, MS. The two-day event will include three concurrent
sessions with 91 oral presentations and 60 poster presentations. Topics will include
coastal community action and stewardship; extension, outreach and education; natural
hazards resiliency and the ocean’s role in climate; water resources: supply and quality;
living estuarine resources; and habitat management and restoration.

We hope you find the symposium interesting, educational and engaging and that you
look forward to the next one in Alabama in 2010.
Keynote Speaker Biographies

Dr. Virginia Burkett
Chief Scientist for Global Change Research
U.S. Geological Survey
Dr. Virginia Burkett is the Chief Scientist for Global Change Research at the U.S.
Geological Survey. She was formerly Chief of the Forest Ecology Branch at the National
Wetlands Research Center and Associate Regional Chief Biologist for the USGS
Central Region. Dr. Burkett has served as Director of the Louisiana Coastal Zone
Management Program, Director of the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries,
and Assistant Director of the Louisiana Geological Survey. She has published
extensively on the topics of global change and low-lying coastal zones. She was a Lead
Author on the United Nation's IPCC Third and Fourth Assessment Reports (2001 and
2007) and an IPCC Technical Paper on Water (2007). She coordinated both the Coastal
and Southeast synthesis chapters of the U.S. National Assessment of climate change
and its impacts. During her career Dr. Burkett has been appointed to over 40
Commissions, Committees, Science Panels and Boards, and received a Nobel Prize in
2007 for work with the IPCC.

Dr. Steven Murawski
Director of Scientific Programs and Chief Science Advisor for NOAA Fisheries Service
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
Dr. Steven Murawski is the Director of Scientific Programs and Chief Science
Advisor for NOAA Fisheries Service, a position he has held since May of 2005. In
addition to these duties, he was selected to be the NOAA Ecosystem Goal Team Lead
in January 2006. As Goal Team Lead, Dr. Murawski is responsible for out-year
strategic planning and budget development for all of NOAA’s ecosystem activities which
amount to $1.2 billion in 2008.
Currently, Dr. Murawski works to move forward ecosystem approaches to
management both at NOAA and in conjunction with other federal agencies and
international bodies. Prior to this, he was the Director of the NOAA Fisheries Office of
Science and Technology. Dr. Murawski has considerable experience in the field of
applied fisheries biology and quantitative fishery science and served as Chief Stock
Assessment Scientist for the Northeast Fisheries Science Center in Woods Hole,
Massachusetts (1990–2004).
His research background is in fisheries biology, population dynamics and stock
assessment. He has published over 150 reports, articles and other documents,
appearing several notable journals. During his career, Dr. Murawski has been a key
representative on several committees and councils.
His current roles include official U.S. delegate to the International Council for the
Exploration of the Sea (ICES), NOAA representative to the White House interagency
Joint Sub-Committee on Science and Technology (JSOST), and member on the Global
Ocean Ecosystems Dynamics (GLOBEC) Program Steering Committee. He received
his Ph.D. from the University of Massachusetts–Amherst, in 1984.
Lunch Speaker Biographies

Dr. Bill Walker
Executive Director
Mississippi Department of Marine resources
Dr. Bill Walker is the Executive Director of the Mississippi Department of Marine
Resources in Biloxi, MS. His research and teaching interests include: Fate and Effects
of Pesticides/Toxins in Natural Environments; Bioassay Evaluations (Bioaccumulation,
Food Chain Transfer, Sub-lethal Effects); and Toxic/Carcinogenic Responses in Small
Fish Species.
Dr. Walker’s grant history includes about $7.1 million over his career. Major
funding agencies include U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, National Toxicology
Program, National Biological Service, Department of the Army (DOD), National Cancer
Institute (NIH), and private industry. He has over 40 peer-reviewed articles and over 100
national and regional presentations.
Dr. Walker earned his B.S. in Botany/Microbiology from Southeastern Louisiana
University, and his M.S. and Ph.D. in Soil Microbiology/Biochemistry from Mississippi
State University.

Mr. Stephen Sempier
Deputy Director
Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium
Steve Sempier is Deputy Director at the Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant
Consortium and also serves as Sea Grant’s Gulf of Mexico Regional Research Planning
Coordinator. He is working with federal and state agencies, universities, and NGOs to
develop a Gulf-wide plan that identifies and addresses regional research priorities and
information needs. The four Gulf of Mexico Sea Grant College programs are leading this
effort, and Steve works closes with each of these programs.
Steve has over ten years of professional marine science, aquaculture/fisheries,
and teaching experience. Recent university employment includes working on a USDA
aquaculture risk management project and working on a USAID program devoted to
increasing food security in developing nations. He earned his B.S. in Marine
Science/Biology at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Florida and an M.S. in Marine
Resource Management/Fisheries Science at Oregon State University.
How to Use the Bays and Bayous CD-ROM

You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view the abstracts and most other
documents on this CD. Acrobat Reader version 9.0 for Windows XP is provided
on this CD for your convenience. A Macintosh version is also provided on the
CD. Both versions are located in the folder called Reader.

Installing Adobe Acrobat Reader for Windows (PC)
Open the AdbeRdr90_en_us file on this CD.
Follow the onscreen instruction.
You will have to restart your computer to complete the installation.

Installing Adobe Acrobat Reader for Mac
Open the AdbeRdr812_en_US_i386.dmg file.
Follow instruction prompts to install the program.

Using the Table of Contents file
The abstracts for all presentations given at the 2008 Mississippi-Alabama Bays
and Bayous Symposium are included on this CD. They are categorized by
session topic: Coastal Community Action and Stewardship; Extension, Outreach
and Education; Habitat Management and Restoration; Living Estuarine
Resources; Natural Hazards Resiliency and the Ocean's Role in Climate; and
Water Resources: Supply and Quality.

Oral and poster abstracts are listed in alphabetical order by title within each
session. To view an abstract, find it on the Table of Contents and click on the
title. A new window will open for every abstract selected.

Using keyword searches
To perform keyword searches, open the "Search Index" file on this disk. Enter
one or more key words in the search box and then click search. A search window
will display a list of documents that include your search criteria. To open a
document, click the title.