FGCU's 2019 Biodiversity Conference

Last Thursday, March 14th, I attended FGCU's 2019 Biodiversity Conference. This is the second conference I have attended since being at Corkscrew (the first being CISMA, 2/26) and I have to say, they are a nice way to escape the office. It is cool to be able to compare this Biodiversity Conference with the one I attended previously because they were very different experiences for me. The CISMA conference seemed to draw a much more diverse and scientific crowd and provided presentations by a variety of people, in a variety of fields. The Biodiversity Conference drew some scientists, but its crowd was much more varied and included a number of environmental activists. I think this is due to the nature of this conference, which is that it focused on one heated topic: Red Tide in Florida.

Sarah Walters Burnsed (Marine Finfish Biologist, FWC)
giving her presentation about red tide in Florida

The conference was organized with a morning session, afternoon session, and closing remarks. The morning session included a panel with people from 3 different fields: Science, Vet Medicine, and Policy/Law. There were six people total, each who gave a brief presentation about red tide from their own perspective. These presentations were interesting in that they gave some dimension to this hot-button issue. I enjoyed learning from the policy people in particular. After the panelists gave their presentations, it was time for questions. Some of the questions were well thought out and made sense for the topic, while others were directed to a specific panelist or aimed to create controversy. All together the morning session was interesting to an observer like me.

After an hour break for lunch, it was time for the afternoon session. This session was cut up into three workshops: Science, Policy, or Education. Conference participants could only attend one, so I picked policy because it is something I have a keen interest in. The workshop was nothing like I expected it to be. I thought it was going to be more about the policies and laws behind the issue of red tide in Florida but it was more about the activists being able to get on their soapboxes and complain about environmental issues. Although it was interesting, I didn't get much out of it personally.

All the organizations who sponsored the Biodiversity Conference.
Most had representatives at the conference.

The closing remarks were probably the best part of the conference because we discussed and summarized thoughts from all three workshops as the main group. It helped reinforce the big picture, which is more my style. I liked hearing about what we could do as individuals to help aid in reducing the threat of red tide in Florida. Overall I think this was a good conference to attend to observe the differences between some scientific conferences and to see how they are not all created equal.

If nothing else, it was a fun way to escape the office work for a day.

- Kendall, Conservation Intern