Water Matters Issue 2

Abstract

Welcome to the second edition of Water Matters! While many of you are familiar with our main facility in Newark, you may not be as familiar with our Lewes office, housed in the College of Marine Studies’ Pollution Ecology Lab, just past the Canary Creek Bridge overlooking the scenic Roosevelt Inlet. It may seem like a sleepy backwater locale, but in fact we’ve had a good deal of excitement here since the last edition of our newsletter. Besides the normal clatter the seagulls make while breaking open clam shells on the rooftop, we were pleasantly distracted by visitors from Hollywood, who were filming the movie “Failure to Launch” at the Marine Operations Building next door. Although their visit was short like the Kalmar Nyckel that was docked during the Annual Coast Day event and our annual visit by the green tree frog, the adventure never ends. A deep-sea dolphin was recently biopsied in the Marine Education, Research & Rehabilitation Institute building, just behind us, to determine its cause of death, and brant (goose-like birds) flocked their way to the grasses in front of Cannon Lab. Finally, we have the pleasure of sharing office space with a team of archaeologists, who are examining and cataloging items from what is believed to be a sunken 1760s-era cargo ship just offshore. They have collected pottery, glass, and many other items from the ship during a dredging operation to replenish Lewes Beach.