UTMSI was happy to host and bring back the 14th annual Texas Bays and Estuaries Meeting (TBEM) to its campus and the newly renovated Patton Center for Marine Science Education. After Hurricane Harvey damaged the visitor center, the meeting was held in various venues in Port Aransas and Corpus Christi. The meeting occurred from 9/21/22-9/22/22, with approximately 130 registrants from Texas universities, local organizations, and state agencies. The purpose of the meeting was to bring together scientists to share research about the Texas coastal ecosystem. It included a special session on extreme weather impacts. The special session was started by distinguished speaker Dakus Geeslin, Deputy Director from Coastal Fisheries Division, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, with his talk on Winter Storm Uri impacts on Spotted Seatrout in Texas.
The meeting also included student presentations with presenter awards sponsored by the Coastal Bend Bays & Estuaries Program. Congratulations to our student award winners, oral presentations: Jennifer Gilmore with Harte Research Institute, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi (1st), Jacob Doty with Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi (2nd), and Kaiya Shealy with Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi (3rd). Poster presentations: Alyssa A. Outhwaite with Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi (1st), Felipe Urrutia with Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi (2nd), Kathleen Roark with Marine Science Institute, The University of Texas at Austin (3rd).
The meeting will be hosted by The University of Texas Marine Science Institute and its Mission-Aransas Reserve and Graduate Student Association with sponsorship from the Coastal Bend Bays & Estuaries Program, Texas A&M Corpus Christi Harte Research Institute, Texas SeaGrant, Flatsworthy, Eureka Water Probes. We want to give thanks to our sponsors and attendees.
