Marine Sciences & One Health

A healthy Texas coastline is not only important for recreation, fishing and shipping, but it could also be essential in adapting to the threat of climate change.

Few people have the opportunity to see their work shown at the Smithsonian Institution, but at 93 Dr. Sammy Ray, a marine biology professor at Texas A&M University and world-renowned oyster expert, will have that pleasure.

Kemp’s ridley turtles are native to and primarily found in the Gulf of Mexico and remain the most critically endangered species of sea turtle. In efforts to save these turtles, Texas A&M University at Galveston trained students and volunteer residents of Galveston to locate and identify sea turtle tracks and turtle nests on Galveston beaches.

In January, a Kemp’s Ridley sea turtle was captured near Galveston in a cast net by local fishermen. It was rehabilitated by the National Marine Fisheries Service and brought to the Texas A&M University at Galveston Sea Life Facility to recuperate.

Endangered sea turtles now have a new home at Texas A&M University at Galveston and its new Sea Life Facility, where they can recover and be viewed by the general public before their release back into the Gulf of Mexico.

Reddish brown algae blooms are coloring the coastline of Texas, and as a result, state officials have banned oyster harvesting.

Dr. von Zharen, a professor of Marine Sciences teaches a variety of courses, from international law and management strategies to invasive species’ vectors, pathways and management to wildlife law and ethics to environmental law, to mediation.

Texas A&M University at Galveston (TAMUG) researchers recently received more than $1.2 million from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for two different projects to investigate the impact of organic matter in soils and wetlands on potentially toxic radioactive iodine-129 and plutonium colloids or “nano-particles” (nano-meter sized particles much smaller than a human hair).

Researchers to study sequestration (storage) of carbon in tidal wetlands along the Texas coast NASA and the U. S. Department of Agriculture have awarded a three-year, $400,000 carbon cycle science investigation grant to four researchers at Texas A&M University at Galveston.

Texas A&M University at Galveston officially dedicated its highly sophisticated, 109,000 square-foot Ocean and Coastal Studies Building (OCSB) with a special ceremony on Nov. 11.