Honorary Chair Sir Edmund Hillary 1919-2008	President Daniel A. Bennett	Honorary President Don Walsh, Ph.D.

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EXPEDITIONS Flag Reports   FLAG 139 Pulley Ridge: America's Deepest Coral Reef 23 June—1 July 2005 Dr. Sylvia Earle Expedition Members include: Sylvia Earle HON'81—co-chief scientist, Deep Worker pilot, Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies Alex Creedon—captain, R/V Irene C, Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary Bob Halley—co-chief scientist, and ROV team, US Geological Survey Center for Coastal and Watershed Studies Richard Rendigs—ROV team, US Geological Survey Center for Coastal and Marine Geology G.P. Schmall—Deep Worker pilot, Flower Gardens National Marine Sanctuary Jim Culter—dive coordinator, technical deep diving team, Mote Marine Laboratory Tim Taylor FN'04—captain, dive coordinator, technical rebreather diving team photographer, Research Vessel Tiburon Al Hine—mapping coordinator, side-scan sonar, seismic ops, University of South Florida Ian Griffiths—lead Deep Worker technician, Deep Ocean Exploration and Research See all members listed in report below.   Introduction Reef building coral formations have been on this planet for close to 4 million years. In the past 10 years the world has lost 25% of the known living coral reefs. This record decline in coral is attributed to climate change, over fishing and coastal pollution. The discovery of a the healthy Pulley Ridge reef, at depths that until now was thought impossible, may lead to more discoveries of reefs at these depths and a new understanding of how we can save reefs planet wide. The expedition originated with Dr. Sylvia Earle and Dr. John "Wes" Tunnell of Texas A & M's Corpus Christi Harte Research Institute, who approached Dr. Kumar Mahadevan of Mote Marine Lab, Dr. John Ogden of FIO, Dr. Bob Halley of US Geological Survey and Billy Causey of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. At this point Jim Culter of, Mote Marine Laboratory suggested utilizing a technical deep diving team to make the first scientific dives on Pulley Ridge. FULL REPORT in pdf RETURN TO LIST

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