Fragments of orange coral with white tentacles on small cement anchors in a tank.

Mesophotic coral can live at depths of 500 feet below the ocean surface. Even at this depth, some of the mesophotic corals in the Gulf of Mexico were affected by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010. Our coral scientists supporting NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science are studying the extent of this impact.

Three of our employee owners participated in a mission to extract the corals from the Gulf of Mexico that were then transported to laboratories in Galveston, Texas, Gainesville, Florida, and Charleston, South Carolina. Once the Charleston specimens were housed in custom-made tanks, our scientists began studying and caring for the corals. They feed the colony multiple times daily, and study their growth and reproduction. In an effort to restore the damaged coral colonies in the Gulf of Mexico, the team is studying how to maximize growth and outplanting at a larger scale.

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Managing a Highly Viewed YouTube Channel

For more than 20 years we have supported the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), which is part of the U.S. National Library of Medicine. Our staff manage the NCBI section of the National Library of Medicine YouTube channel, which has over 73,000 subscribers. One video tutorial our staff developed was to help users understand…

Assisting With Maui Wildfire Recovery

As part of our support to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 9 Superfund Technical Assessment & Response Team (START)—for which we are subcontracted through Weston Solutions, Inc.—CSS employee owners have been on-site in three-week rotations to assist throughout the rigorous recovery process. 

Providing Skills to Build Relationships with Underserved Communities

CSS talented learning specialists supporting NOAA’s Office for Coastal Management (for which we subcontract through Lynker) are integral contributors to a team of federal staff and affiliates who develop training to assist coastal community decision makers and resource managers with building skills needed to enhance their communities. CSS learning specialists recently led the development of…