Monday, February 27, 2006

Perry Institute



The Perry Institute is a non-profit organization that promotes education and research dedicated to improving understanding about the Caribbean region's marine environment. While the organization is based out of Florida, it has research facilities on Lee Stocking Island in the Bahamas, whose location was chosen because of its close proximity to the United States and its wide range of relatively untouched marine habitats. Chosen as a long term research site and field station, the laboratory facilities are some of the largest and most productive in the region. The station, also known as Caribbean Marine Research Center (CMRC), is one of six national research centers for NOAA's Undersea Research Program. Much of the research that is focused on ecologically and economically important species such as the queen conch, spiny lobster, snapper, and Nassau grouper. Similarly, coral reefs are vital to this region and ecological studies are focused on species recruitment, reproduction, and biodiversity. In supporting research on fisheries and coral reef ecosystems throughout the Caribbean, researchers are focusing efforts to determine the effectiveness and design of Marine Protected Areas.
But the real reason I wrote this post is because they have 4 reef webcams set up, one of which has lights for a night time look at the reef. I think its pretty cool and worth checking out. Look at one of the 4 webcams here.

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