Senate Bill sb2698

    Florida Senate - 2005        (NP)                      SR 2698

    By Senator Bennett





    21-1718-05

  1                    Senate Resolution No. ____

  2         A resolution paying tribute to the 50th

  3         Anniversary of Mote Marine Laboratory.

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  5         WHEREAS, Mote Marine Laboratory was created in 1955 by

  6  the now-famous shark researcher Dr. Eugenie Clark, with

  7  support from William and Alfred Vanderbilt, and was known then

  8  as the Cape Haze Marine Laboratory and was humbly housed in a

  9  12-foot-by-20-foot shed in Placida, Florida, and

10         WHEREAS, during the laboratory's first decade of

11  existence, its reputation grew as did its facilities, and

12         WHEREAS, under the guidance of many people dedicated to

13  the laboratory's success, including former director William R.

14  Mote and current president Dr. Kumar Mahadevan, the laboratory

15  has grown to encompass eight buildings for research,

16  education, and conferences located on a 10.5-acre campus in

17  Sarasota, Florida, with research and education also going

18  forward in a Sarasota inland aquaculture park and in field

19  stations in Charlotte Harbor and in the Florida Keys, and

20         WHEREAS, after starting with only a handful of

21  researchers focused solely on sharks, Mote Marine Laboratory

22  is now a powerhouse of nearshore marine research, studying

23  everything from sharks to red tide to marine mammals and

24  fisheries at seven centers, and

25         WHEREAS, the laboratory has also made a significant

26  commitment to public education through its aquarium, which

27  draws 400,000 visitors annually, and through its on-campus and

28  distance-learning programs, which educate more than 50,000

29  K-12 and college students, and

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    Florida Senate - 2005        (NP)                      SR 2698
    21-1718-05




 1         WHEREAS, today, Mote Marine Laboratory is one of the

 2  world's few remaining independent marine research centers and

 3  has more than 230 staff members and 1,400 volunteers, and

 4         WHEREAS, Mote Marine Laboratory has earned

 5  international recognition for its contribution to the greater

 6  body of scientific knowledge and to public education

 7  concerning fragile marine and estuarine ecosystems, NOW,

 8  THEREFORE,

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10  Be It Resolved by the Senate of the State of Florida:

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12         That Mote Marine Laboratory is commended for its

13  tireless pursuit of answers to some of the oceans' most

14  pressing questions and for sharing its knowledge with the

15  world.

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