For the show's 100th episode, the hosts bring in Kevin Cooper, vice president of communications and strategic initiatives at Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium, to unpack what is coming to Nathan Benderson Park. The new Mote Science Education Aquarium, still under construction, spans 110,000 square feet and roughly a million gallons of habitat, with a centerpiece 400,000-gallon elasmobranch conservation habitat, better known as the shark tank, that will offer certified scuba divers the chance to swim alongside the animals. New additions include penguins and a giant Pacific octopus, neither of which exist at Mote's current City Island location.
Cooper traces Mote's roots back to 1955, when shark researcher Dr. Eugene Clark founded what became Cape Haze Marine Laboratory, 25 years before the aquarium opened to the public in 1980. Roughly two-thirds of Mote's work today is marine science research funded through grants, contracts, and philanthropy, not the aquarium itself, and Mote remains the only congressionally designated shark research center in the country. Cooper is careful to separate his employer's science from local politics, noting Mote has never been formally engaged to study reopening Midnight Pass and therefore has no institutional position, though he offers his personal view that any decision involves real ecological trade-offs.
The new facility will house three state-of-the-art STEM teaching labs, free for Manatee and Sarasota County students, expected to serve about 70,000 students annually, plus a workforce training lab aimed at getting undergraduates into marine science career pipelines. Cooper also highlights research breakthroughs born from accidents, including a microfragmentation coral restoration technique discovered after a scientist dropped and shattered a coral sample, only to find it regrew far faster than expected. That technique became an industry standard, compressing what would normally take a hundred years of reef growth into roughly five.
Cooper also details Mote's sea turtle program, active for more than 40 years, its 24/7 marine mammal stranding response team, and a red tide mitigation initiative that saw a 70 percent reduction in a recent bloom using tools developed through the program. On roundabouts, Cooper draws on eight years spent on the Sarasota County Planning Commission, arguing they work well when placed and designed correctly, though he flags the Gulf Stream Avenue roundabout as one that still trips up drivers who do not see how its lanes converge.
What you'll take away
- Mote's new Nathan Benderson Park aquarium will include a 400,000-gallon shark tank with scuba diving experiences, plus new penguin and giant Pacific octopus habitats.
- About two-thirds of Mote's overall work is marine science research funded by grants and philanthropy, separate from the aquarium's ticket revenue.
- The facility will offer three free STEM teaching labs for Manatee and Sarasota County schoolchildren, expected to serve roughly 70,000 students a year.
- A microfragmentation coral restoration technique, discovered accidentally after a researcher dropped a coral sample, became an industry standard and can compress a century of reef growth into about five years.
- Mote's Florida red tide mitigation initiative achieved a roughly 70 percent reduction in a recent bloom using tools developed through state-funded research.
“Science is the attraction.”
“Little fish cannot become big fish, that's not our science, that's someone else's, but the trade-offs are real.”
Places mentioned: Nathan Benderson Park, City Island, Midnight Pass, Gulf Stream Avenue