MERRITT ISLAND, Fla. — June 23, 2014 — Since the earliest days of America’s space program, telemetry has been used to track rockets and spacecraft.
Similar technology now is being put to work by marine biologists to aid in studying activities of over a dozen managed fish and sea turtle species in the waters surrounding NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Fish spawned at the spaceport are now thriving and being tracked as far away as the coastal areas of New Jersey.
Established in 1962, the Kennedy security zone also functions as the oldest marine reserve in the United States.
This has aided scientists at the spaceport who are partnering with counterparts from other government agencies and universities to aid in preserving many types of marine wildlife.
“This has been a huge success story,” said Eric Reyier, Ph.D., an InoMedic Health Applications Inc. fisheries biologist.
“Our tagging efforts are helping us better understand and quantify the time Florida sport fish spend within the estuary around the space center.”
Reyier pointed out that Kennedy’s Ecological Program Office recently received notice from the U.S. Navy in Norfolk, Va., and the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife that two black drum fish, tagged with small transmitters at the Florida spaceport, were detected in Chesapeake Bay in May and one later was recorded off the coast of New Jersey.
This finding represents the longest migration ever documented for the black drum species.
A popular sport fish, black drum are common to bays and lagoons but also may be found offshore. They tend to be bottom dwellers, often feeding on oysters.
“Along with the black drum, we have also tagged numerous other species such as red drum, spotted sea trout, sheepshead, tarpon, gray snapper, common snook and lemon sharks,” Reyier said.
“We’ve also tagged numerous green sea turtles to document their life cycle and movements.”
In addition to being a 140,000-acre spaceport, Kennedy also is part of the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge established in 1963. It provides a habitat for more than 1,500 species of plants and animals. Add to that the necessary security surrounding Kennedy and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, and what results is a highly protected environment for local wildlife.