WAKULLA COUNTY, FL — Wakulla County native and Florida State University PhD student Morgan Hawkins is using the FSU Marine Lab's academic diving program to advance her research into restoring local scallop populations.
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ABC 27's Serena Devanzo learned how scallops have been a part of Hawkins' life for as long as she can remember.
"This area means a lot to me and my family. Since I was a little girl, we used to scallop in St Mark's, and basically used it as a family tradition to go out there with my great grandparents and my grandparents and collect scallops," Hawkins said.
After watching the decline of scallops in the area, Hawkins wanted to help restore the populations. Her research focuses on optimizing bay scallop restoration aquaculture, a technique centered on breeding local scallops in a hatchery setting.
"So this is an idea of using hatchery produced individuals to augment wild populations by releasing them into wild environments and hoping that they remain there to reproduce and aid in population growth," Hawkins said.
To implement this research, Hawkins utilized the diving program at the FSU Marine Lab to monitor the scallops up close. Hawkins and 18 other divers spent 62 hours underwater monitoring hatchery-raised scallops in eight different locations around Dog Island. The monitoring allows researchers to learn what happens to the scallops upon release and how far they move.
The academic diving program teaches 12 to 20 students annually, helping facilitate underwater science. Students work toward a scientific diving credential with the American Academy of Underwater Sciences and become certified in recreational and emergency diving.
"So recreational certifications, like an emergency, as an emergency first responder, our divers are expected to be able to handle emergencies that could occur when they're remote, they're they're off, off doing work offshore and recreational diving certifications as well," Chris Peters said.
Peters is the diving safety officer for the FSU Coastal and Marine Lab. Hawkins said the program was crucial to the success of her research because it prepared her and the other divers.
"So being able to come out of this program with multiple certifications has set me up to be a very strong leader of my scientific research. So I'm able to deal with harsh field conditions as well as any emergencies on the boat. Chris Peters, which is the leader of the dive program, is very, very good at teaching safety, teaching rescue diver certifications as well during your course. And so all in all, it builds that confidence in taking care of situations that might become dangerous, and also completing really thorough research with safety as a top priority," Hawkins said.
The research aims to figure out how to implement the restoration strategy effectively to benefit communities along the Big Bend, including Steinhatchee, St. Marks, and Port St. Joe. Hawkins' next goal is to establish a local restoration hatchery to support sustainable aquaculture in Wakulla and Franklin counties.
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