Dive into Ocean Awareness Week

The ocean will garner the support of nearly 50 University of Miami students this week when Rho Rho Rho, the marine and atmospheric science honor society, hosts its second annual Ocean Awareness Week.

The event will run from Monday to Saturday and feature a variety of events, including a concert, a climate change panel and Sea Service Day all on UM’s campus.

Ocean Awareness Week co-chair Maria Rodgers, a sophomore majoring in marine science, has been involved in planning the event since last November and hopes to attract more students this year than last year.

“We’re really just trying to educate people about the ocean,” Rodgers said.

This year, the marine issue the organizers of Ocean Awareness Week have deemed most important is overfishing. Overfishing occurs when a specific species of fish have been fished nearly to the point of extinction, usually for human consumption.

“It’s one of the issues at the forefront of marine conservation,” said  professor Jill Richardson, who works with Rho Rho Rho. “Fish are not renewable.”

To kick off events on Monday, there will be a screening of the film “End of the Line”, a documentary that examines diminishing supplies of bluefin tuna. It will be followed on Tuesday by a lecture on overfishing.

Rodgers says she’s most excited about the Ocean Carnival, which will be held on the UC Patio from noon to 2 p.m. on Tuesday. The carnival will feature a touch tank, a mock stranding put on by the Marine Mammal Stranding Team and a scuba demonstration by Scuba Club. The touch tank will be provided by the Miami Seaquarium and will feature a variety of ocean creatures.

“It’s going to be a really interactive thing,” Rodgers said.

Ocean Awareness Week is particularly exciting for students in the marine sciences because this year it will feature a Marine Science Career and Internship Fair on Thursday.

“The career fair is really great for marine science students because we can really get our resumes out there and learn what kind of careers there are in marine fields,” said freshman Lindsay Wickman, an Ocean Awareness Week volunteer.

Still, the primary goal of this event is teach students in other disciplines more about the ocean.

“I think it’s important because it raises awareness for students outside the marine school who wouldn’t normally be exposed to the information we have about the ocean. Through Ocean Awareness Week they can gain an understanding of the importance of the ocean to our world,” Wickman said.