Join DEEPEND at Rock The Ocean’s Tortuga Music Festival in Conservation Village as we find ways to #RockTheOcean in 2019!

When:  April 12-14, 2019

Where:  Fort Lauderdale Beach, in the Conservation Village

What:  The DEEPEND Booth will have deep-sea trivia, guessing games, and a photo booth this year! You can win glow in the dark anglerfish tattoos or a DEEPEND t-shirt! Come visit our booth while enjoying the sights and sounds of the festival!

As a nominee for ACM Festival of the Year, saving the oceans and shifting to more sustainable habits is something we all want to do, but where do we start? This question can be daunting when wanting to make lifestyle changes to help our oceans. It’s nice to have a little education on how you can make a difference! This is what Conservation Village at Rock The Ocean’s Tortuga Music Festival is all about – educating fans on conservation initiatives, lifestyle changes, and raising awareness for the protection of our oceans. We will be joining 30+ other leaders in ocean conservation to deliver simple, unique ways fans can help save our oceans.

Tortuga Music Festival has grown over the past seven years to become one of the largest music festivals in the world. With this growth, the conservation efforts have grown as well. A few of the on-site efforts this year will include:

• Minimizing Waste and Reducing Single Use Plastics:
  - Festival Wide recycling
  - Food vendors using only compostable serviceware
  - Provide free water refill stations. Fans will be encouraged to bring and use their own refillable water bottles.
  - No plastic water bottles. Fans can refill their water bottles at a water refill station or Open Water in aluminum cans will be available for purchase.
  - No plastic straws. We have a straw by request only policy, substituting plastic straws with ocean friendly paper straws.
  - Donation of all leftover food. 
  - New in 2019: Reduce single-use plastic by purchasing a limited Tortuga Music Festival Pint Cup! Purchase one with your first drink and use it all weekend long!
• Supporting Sustainable Food Systems:
  - Tortuga is committed to only serving sustainable seafood. This means that any seafood item served at the festival must be caught or farmed in environmentally responsible ways. Vendors must source seafood that is listed as a “Best Choice” or “Good Alternative” by The Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch program.
  - Additionally, we are committed to only serving meats raised without the use of antibiotics and produce that has been sourced from within 200 miles of the festival site. This is in order to support the local community and promote positive animal welfare practices.
• Encouraging Alternative Transportation:
  - Fans will be encouraged to take advantage of alternative transportation options that reduce the emissions associated with fan travel to and from the festival.     Alternatives include:
  ▪    Water Taxis
  ▪    Shuttles

If you or someone you know will be at this year’s Tortuga Music Festival, come see us and learn how you can help #RockTheOcean!

Learn More

Cheers DeepEnd Crew!!

I have another tale to tell you!  On Friday March 4, 2016 Nina Pruzinsky and I went to New River Middle School to present our deep-sea knowledge!!  Thanks to Creep into the DEEPEND lecture series, members of the DeepEnd team are able to share their knowledge and experiences to classrooms both near and far!  New River Middle School, located in Fort Lauderdale, has a unique magnet program for marine science filled with bright, eager student ready to learn!

We arrived at New River Middle School on Friday afternoon to be the guest speakers for Mr. Kyle Lendick 6th grade marine science class.  As part of their class work Mr. Lendick fully utilizes the online teaching material found on our website and as such the kids were eager to meet some of the scientists they have been following the last few months.  For all three classes we did a quick introductory PowerPoint covering the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, research activities of DeepEnd and our thesis topic.  During the presentation we strongly encouraged questions and we were not disappointed!!  Kids wanted to know things ranging from our favorite ocean critter to what happens to the fish during the trawling process. 

Once we finished our presentation we had a full blown Q&A session where the kids were able to continue their line of questions for a short while until the real fun started!  Nina and I were able to bring in some deep-sea fish for the kids! This was a truly unique opportunity for the kids because they were able to see fish that most people do not even know exist!! We divided the class in half and we talked about deep-sea adaptations exhibited by the specimens.  Some of the adaptations we were able to highlight include bioluminescence, pigmentation changes with depth, decrease musculature and feeding strategies.  During this show and tell we got to have more of a one-on-one experience, which the kids truly enjoyed!

Thank you New River Middle School for signing up for Creep into the DEEPEND and I, along with the rest of the DEEPEND crew hope to see you again!

Well, there you have it folks, another workshop in the books.  On Saturday February 20, 2016, the DeepEnd crew hosted a diverse group of educators for the Teacher Workshop at the Oceanographic Campus of NOVA Southeastern University.  This year we had 16 participants, ranging from first year teachers to seasoned veterans.  The day started with introductions from members of DeepEnd and a fun game of Get-2-Know BINGO!  A short pretest was all that was standing in the way of activities and deep-sea knowledge!

Teachers were given a flash drive loaded with tons of deep-sea information and fun labs they can incorporate into their lessons.  The rest of the day was centered around demonstrating and participating  in some of these labs.  As every class is different the teachers always had helpful hints and tips to improve or tweak the lab to fit a specific curriculum. 

The workshop focuses on how to bring deep-sea research into the class room, and what would a deep-sea workshop be without some show and tell!!  These teachers were able to see a variety of deep sea critters, most of which many people don’t even know exist!!!  Challenges of the deep ocean and special adaptations were discussed to give the educators a better background when they cover oceanic environments in class.

  As Saturday afternoon turned to early evening we wrapped up the workshop.  A day filled with interactive labs and deep-sea facts was coming to an end.  The post test was handed out and applications to Teacher at Sea were distributed.  Who would have thought that spending a Saturday with a bunch of teachers would be so fun!! We hope the information gained on this day helps them continue doing an amazing job both inside and outside the classroom!  

Thank you teachers for joining us!