National Ocean Service

• SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, Dec. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- CarbonCycle, SOS Carbon, Sway, Thalasso Ocean and PANGAIA have been selected to pilot solutions to convert Puerto Rico's sargassum seaweed, plastic waste and end-of-life tires into new value-added products.
• The cohort, called the Puerto Rico Studio, was created in partnership between Invest Puerto Rico (InvestPR), the island's business attraction organization, and Newlab, a renowned center of invention based in Brooklyn, NY.
• Approximately 18,000 tires are disposed daily in Puerto Rico, and there are significant import and export constraints on the Island for plastics.
• During the pilot, CarbonCycle will complete pre-development work to construct their technology in Puerto Rico.

• MONROE TOWNSHIP, N.J., Sept. 13, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --  Ocean Power Technologies, Inc. ("OPT" or "the Company") (NYSE American: OPTT), today announced financial results for its fiscal first quarter ended July 31, 2023 (“Q124”), including year over year revenue, gross profit, and pipeline growth.
• Revenues of $1.3 million for Q124 grew $0.6 over revenues of $0.7 million for the fiscal quarter ended July 31, 2022 (“Q123)”.
• Gross profit for Q124 was $0.7 million, compared to gross profit of $0.2 million in Q123.
• The gross margin rate was 52.1% and 27.2%, for the quarters ended Q124 and Q123, respectively.

• LAS VEGAS, Aug. 31, 2023 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- More than 3,500 commercial drone professionals from more than 60 countries will gather at Commercial UAV Expo , the world's leading commercial drone trade show and conference, to network, connect, and learn about the newest developments in drone technology, applications, and operations.
• Keynote panels will delve into what success with drone technology looks like when drone innovators, regulators, and end-users share their expertise and vision.
• Keynote panelists represent organizations including FAA, Percepto, Merlin Labs, Skydio, NOAA, Drone Industry Insights, Commercial Drone Alliance, and Cambridge Consultants.
• More than 300 associations and media have signed on as event supporters, recognizing Commercial UAV Expo as the premier event for anyone in the drone industry integrating and operating commercial UAS - Registration is still open - secure your spot today !

• Normally, I.CARE’s volunteer divers would be transplanting corals to waters off the Florida Keys this time of year, as part of a national effort to restore the Florida Reef.
• As water temperatures spiked in the Florida Keys, scientists from universities, coral reef restoration groups and government agencies launched a heroic effort to save the corals.
• Divers have been in the water every day, collecting thousands of corals from ocean nurseries along the Florida Keys reef tract and moving them to cooler water and into giant tanks on land.
• Their efforts are part of an emergency response on a scale never before seen in Florida.

The heartbeat of the reef

• The Florida Reef has struggled for years under the pressure of overfishing, disease, storms and global warming that have decimated its live corals.
• A massive coral restoration effort – the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Mission: Iconic Reef – has been underway since 2019 to restore the reef with transplanted corals, particularly those most resilient to the rising temperatures.
• Unfortunately, corals are very temperature sensitive, and the extreme ocean heat off South Florida, with some reef areas reaching temperatures in the 90s, has put them under extraordinary stress.

A MASH unit for corals

• This year, the Florida Keys reached an alert level 2, indicating extreme risk of bleaching, about six weeks earlier than normal.
• At the Keys Marine Laboratory, scientists and trained volunteers have dropped off thousands of coral fragments collected from heat-threatened offshore nurseries.

Protecting corals still in the ocean

• I.CARE co-founder Kylie Smith, a coral reef ecologist and a former student of mine in marine sciences, discovered a few years ago that coral transplants with large amounts of fleshy algae around them were more likely to bleach during times of elevated temperature.
• Removing that algae may give corals a better chance of survival.
• Smith’s group typically works with local dive operators to train recreational divers to assist in transplanting and maintaining coral fragments in an effort to restore the reefs of Islamorada.

Monitoring for corals at risk

• To help spot corals in trouble, volunteer divers are also being trained as reef observers through Mote Marine Lab’s BleachWatch program.
• The lab is training them to recognize bleached, diseased and dead corals of different species and then use an online portal to submit bleach reports across the entire Florida Reef.

Rebuilding the reef

• Through careful analysis of the species, genotypes and reef locations experiencing bleaching, scientists and practitioners are learn valuable information as they work to protect and rebuild a more resilient coral reef for the future.
• That is what gives hope to Smith, Lewis, Nedimyer and hundreds of others who believe this coral reef is worth saving.