Sunday, November 30, 2008

You can't protect what you don't know.

That is the mind-set a group of students, teachers and conservationists had when they developed a plan to set up cameras at the old Bahia Honda Bridge. The webcams will let students and others across the world see federally protected Goliath groupers, tarpon, sharks and sea creatures that frequent the pylons along the bridge.

Next month, students and teachers plan to implement a project to install two underwater cameras with lights at the base of the bridge and connect the cameras to the Internet. Students would then be able to watch from their classrooms. The live-streaming Web show also will be televised at the Bahia Honda State Park visitor center, organizers of the project said.

The plan is being proposed by Teens4Oceans, a nonprofit group of students, teachers and scientists whose mission is to increase students' understanding of oceans. Teens4Oceans' mission is to empower the next generation to become impassioned stewards for oceans through science research and philanthropic initiatives.

Students at Kent Denver School, a private school in Colorado, raised about $34,000 for the high-tech camera and lighting equipment, which will run on solar power. A private donor has pledged to cover the cost of installation, according to Trevor Mendelow, a science teacher at the school and organizer of the Bahia Honda project. Students at the Denver private school have been working on the project with underwater filmmaker Soames Summerhays and Keys commercial diver Don DeMaria.

The equipment, which will be installed in the middle of December, will consist of two state-of-the-art cameras with underwater housings and microphones. A sophisticated lighting system will allow students to view the fish at night, Mendelow said.

The students involved in the program will be working with some of the leading marine biologists and scientists, including Florida State University professors and leading grouper researchers Felicia Coleman and Chris Koenig, Mendelow said. The students have been involved on every level of the project, Mendelow said. And they will be able to control the cameras remotely from their classrooms.

"This is going to be an incredible experience for students," Mendelow said. "This system is going to be an incredible teaching tool. ... This is a live project. That's what makes it so special."

Mendelow and others are hoping to bring in other schools as well. Mendelow has talked with Key West High School science teachers and teachers with the Denver public school system about becoming involved in the project. Mendelow and Summerhays hope to get more school systems involved, they said.

Interest in the project also has spread through the students communicating with other students online.

"It's the students that are driving this project," Summerhays said. "It's an exciting idea."

tohara@keysnews.com