[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 128 (Wednesday, September 17, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1836]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 TRIBUTE TO MOTE MARINE LABORATORY'S 25-YEAR PARTNERSHIP WITH THE CITY 
                              OF SARASOTA

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                         HON. KATHERINE HARRIS

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                     Wednesday, September 17, 2003

  Ms. HARRIS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize a remarkable 
partnership between the City of Sarasota, Florida and Mote Marine 
Laboratory that continues to thrive in its third decade. On October 27, 
2003, this extraordinary institution will celebrate its 25th 
anniversary at its current site on Sarasota's City Island. I am proud 
to have served as a volunteer and advisory council member for this 
remarkable organization for the last seventeen years.
  Founded in 1955 as the Cape Haze Marine Laboratory, Mote Marine 
Laboratory began as a two-room field station located in Placida, 
Florida. Under the direction of Dr. Eugenie Clark, the Laboratory 
developed a strong reputation in shark research over its first decade, 
during which it moved to Sarasota's Siesta Key. In 1967, the Laboratory 
assumed its current name to honor the major contributions of William R. 
Mote and his sister Elizabeth Mote Rose.
  Despite its growing prominence as a center for marine research, the 
emerging inadequacy of Mote Marine Laboratory's Siesta Key location 
brought its future in Sarasota into doubt. The vision and determination 
of Sarasota's leaders, however, forged a dynamic public-private 
relationship that enabled the laboratory to remain in Sarasota, while 
fueling its dramatic evolution into the powerhouse of education and 
exploration that we celebrate today.
  Today, as one of the preeminent marine research facilities in the 
world, Mote Marine Laboratory encompasses seven research centers that 
conduct a diverse variety of studies, which range from sharks and 
marine mammal behavior to biomedicine and aquaculture, as well as from 
manatee and dolphin conservation to coral reefs, red tide, fisheries, 
and coastal ecology. Moreover, the laboratory has expanded its scope to 
include year-round marine science educational programs. Through its 
traditional on-campus offerings and student internships as well as 
through its interactive teleconferencing SeaTrek program and its 
participation as a Primary Interactive Network Site for National 
Geographic Explorer-in-residence Dr. Robert Ballard's JASON Project, 
Mote Marine Laboratory reaches more than 30,000 students in 22 Florida 
school districts. SeaTrek and JASON have enabled students to climb 
Hawaiian volcanoes, explore the wilds of Alaska, walk on rainforest 
treetop canopies in rainforests, and encounter underwater marine 
sanctuaries--often without leaving their classroom or the laboratory's 
campus.
  Mote Marine Laboratory has also become a resource of discovery and 
imagination for persons of all ages from Southwest Florida and around 
the globe. In 1980, the laboratory opened the Mote Marine Science 
Center. Now known as the Mote Aquarium, the original one-room visitor 
center has evolved into a world-class facility that has received 
accreditation from the American Zoo and Aquarium Association and the 
American Association of Museums. Now hosting 400,000 visitors every 
year, Mote Aquarium has become the top tourist attraction in Sarasota.
  Mr. Speaker, this amazing institution could not have developed 
without the commitment and foresight of several outstanding public 
servants, businesses, and private individuals, including the local 
officials who saved the laboratory for Sarasota: Mayor Elmer Berkel, 
Vice-Mayor Tony Saprito, and Commissioners Ron Norman, Fred Soto, and 
Ted Sperling, who in 1976 provided 4.5 acres of land on City Island for 
the laboratory's new location; the Arvida Corporation, which generously 
donated 2.2 acres of waterfront property for that facility; William R. 
Mote, the Honorable Bob Johnson, Dr. Perry Gilbert, then City Manager 
Ken Thompson, and then Arvida Vice-President John Siegel, who spurred 
the creation of the unique public-private partnership between the City 
of Sarasota and Mote Marine Laboratory; the members of the 1992 City 
Commission (Mayor Jack Gurney, Vice-Mayor Gene Pillot, Commissioners 
Fredd Atkins, David Merrill, Nora Patterson, and then City Manager 
David Sollenberger) who arranged for the addition of 3.5 acres of land 
to the laboratory's complex for the construction of the Ann and Alfred 
Goldstein Marine Mammal Center for Research and Rehabilitation; and the 
current leaders of Sarasota's city government (Mayor Lou Ann Palmer, 
Vice Mayor Richard Martin, Commissioners Fredd Atkins, Danny Bilyeu, 
Mary Anne Servian, and City Manager Michael McNees).
  We venerate their indispensable contributions, together with the 
incredible leadership that Mote Marine Laboratory continues to receive 
from the Chairman of its Board of Trustees, Monfort Runyan, and its 
Executive Director, Dr. Kumar Mahadevan. We also honor the sterling 
scientists and other professionals who comprise the laboratory's staff, 
as well as the dedicated corps of 8,000 members and 1,600 volunteers 
who serve as aquarium guides, turtle patrols, dolphin and whale 
hospital volunteers.

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