Aug. 2, 2008 — Buck Island, its coral reef, marine life and deep-sea features are the subject of a new educational DVD unveiled Friday with a screening in Christiansted.
The video project was a collaborative effort by the National Park Service's Buck Island Reef National Monument and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Center for Coastal Monitoring and Assessment's Biogeography Branch. It documents the scientific work of the two agencies and its partners, producing information to help manage the coral, marine life and other resources inside the Buck Island National Monument boundaries and document all the factors impacting on marine resources beyond the monument.
The 17-minute DVD illustrates cutting-edge technologies to map and monitor the marine environment to help evaluate the effectiveness of the marine protected areas. Buck Island Reef National Monument is one of the first fully protected marine areas in the National Park System.
Zandy Hillis-Starr, a National Park Service marine biologist at Buck Island Reef National Monument, first had the idea for an educational DVD regarding the work at Buck Island, said Mark Monaco, marine biologist and Biogeography Branch chief at NOAA.
"The video shows that the science at Buck Island is not just the biologists getting wet," Monaco said. "There is also a lot of technology."
That technology includes a lot of computer work, data analysis, sonar imaging, deep-sea video probes, aerial photography and mapping. All of these elements, along with years of data, are compiled into a geographic information system (GIS) for capturing, storing, analyzing, managing and presenting data, all organized spatially, in three dimensions, with multiple links and cross references.
"The video complements a report on seven years of data at the park," Monaco said. That report can be found at the NOAA website, he said.
The DVD is meant for visitors to Buck Island, for middle and high school teachers teaching marine science and management, and other educators and resource managers. You can request a copy of the DVD by contacting Tim Battista at (301) 713-3028, ext. 171, or email him.
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