KGUA Ocean Symposium

This article was posted in the Lost Coast Outpost.

KGUA-FM 3^rd Annual Ocean Life Symposium

Mendonoma Whale and Seal Study’s Scott & Tree Mercer and KGUA public media announce The Third Annual Ocean Life Symposium 2021 will be held online and on-air again this year, live on KGUA 88.3FM public radio, live online at KGUA.org, and live on KGUA’s YouTube channel. Seventeen local and national ocean experts will present for three hours daily this year from 9AM-12PM Pacific (12PM-3PM Eastern) October 25 to October 29, 2021, triple the air time as last year, with one of the morning hours repeating Monday through Friday on KGUA’s Peggy’s Place from 1pm-2pm Pacific (3PM-4PM Eastern.)

Topics relating to the status of our oceans and the life forms that inhabit them will be presented by a variety of ocean experts, a few of whom are Orca Network’s Howard Garrett, The Ocean Foundation’s Richard Charter, Ocean Conservation Research’s Michael Stocker, Noyo Center for Marine Science’s Sarah Grimes, Mendocino College’s Brianna Zuber, 7 Seas Whale Watch & The Ocean Alliance’s Cynde McInnis Bierman, and Sausalito’s The Marine Mammal Center’s Bill Keener. (Full Speaker Schedule with headshots, logos, and bios to follow.)

After the last speaker presents, there will be a wrap hour on noon Friday the 29th with Organizers Scott and Tree Mercer who will discuss highlights with KGUA’s Peggy Berryhill (GM & Host), Leigh Anne Lindsey (Producer/Engineer/Host), George Calys (Host & Editor Sea Ranch Soundings Magazine), and Paul Mundy (Host & Sea Ranch Archives Committee). The Ocean Life Symposium will be available to watch on KGUA’s YouTube channel. Listen locally on KGUA 88.3FM or online with the KGUA Airpocket(™) App (available only at KGUA.org), or on apps TuneIn or RadioGarden. The entire symposium will remain viewable on KGUA’s YouTube channel and on Mendonoma Whale and Seal Study’s FaceBook Page.

EVENT ORGANIZERS & PRODUCERS

KGUA (KGUA.org) is a Northern CA public media station in Gualala, CA which airs news, science, politics, and eclectic music shows. It is a project of the Native Media Resource Center, a 501 (c) (3) non- profit located in Anchor Bay. Co-Founder & GM, Berryhill has been a leader in public radio for over 50 years. She is an award-winning, Native American broadcast journalist who is a member of the Muscogee Nation. Board members are Berryhill, Susan Ruschmeyer, Gregg McVicar, Theresa Harlan, and Rick Tejada-Flores. Volunteers are: Leigh Anne Lindsey, Thane Frivold, Steven Winningham, Drew Fagan, Roberta Chan, and Annie Eden.

Mendonoma Whale and Seal Study co-founder Scott Mercer began researching marine mammals in 1974. In 1978, he founded New England Whale Watch, co-authored The Great Whale Book in 1982, and taught a marine mammal class for 14 years. Mercer co-founded the Brier Island Ocean Study Research Station and in 2013, the Mendonoma Whale and Seal Study with Tree Mercer to survey marine mammals off the northern Sonoma and southern Mendocino coasts. Before MWSS, Tree recorded seabirds and whale sightings for New England Whale Watch, and taught Biology and Life Science for 35 years on Long Island, NY.