Pioneered the Development of Undersea Habitats, Equipment and Techniques for Living and Working on the Sea Floor

Living and Working in the Sea, Koblick, Ian & Jim Miller.  2nd edition, 1995. 

Earth Resources Application Institute Westinghouse Corp. Designed diving and life support systems for National Underwater Laboratory Systems program (1977). 

NOAA/U.S. Department of Commerce.  Study of the cost-effectiveness of saturation diving (1973). 

NOAA/U.S. Department of Commerce Office of Manned Undersea Science and Technology. Provided facilities and carried out N2O2 saturation dives with deep excursion air diving (1974). 

Puerto Rico Undersea Research and Development Company. Construction and operation of the La Chalupa underwater habitat (1972-76). 

Resulting Publications 
"An Analysis of Saturation Diving by Scientists" Olsen, D.A., Marine Technology Society Journal, Vol. 11, No. 5, June 1976. 

"Cost-effectiveness of Saturation Diving as a Scientific Data Acquisition Tool" PRINUL Special Report No. 5, 1973. 

"Down Deeper on Air" Koblick, I.G., Sea Technology Magazine, Vol. 16, No. 7, July 1975. 

"A Study of Puerto Rico Coral Reef Systems" Olsen, D.A. and Sheen,  M.O., Hydro-Lab Journal, Vol. 3, No. 1, 1975. 

Helped Plan and Implement Management and Conservation of Marine Resources for the Governments of Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. Assisted City of Ft Lauderdale, FL. Hosted Workshop on Coral Reef Management in Key Largo, FL

National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration. Coral Reef Management Workshop (1988).

Port Everglades Authority, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Environmental consultation on the dredging of Port Everglades harbor (1979). 

Office of the Governor of Puerto Rico. Development of the Ocean Resources Development Agency, a island-wide ocean resource  development plan (1978). 

Puerto Rico Water Resources Agency. Two-week saturation dive to provide information on a nuclear power plant site. 
Inspection of 10 miles of electrical cable from Puerto Rico to the island of Vieques. Inspection in 100 feet of water of 15 miles of electrical cable between Culebra and Vieques (1974). 

Puerto Rico Department of Natural Resources. Study of reefs and provider of support and equipment for the department's marine program  (1974). 

Puerto Rico Industrial Development Agency. Consulting on tanker superport and review of final project plan  (1973). 

Puerto Rico Department of Public Works. Study of sand transport and determination of conditions of Puerto Rico reef system for sand harvesting operations (1973). 

Resulting Publications 

"Benthic Algal Ecology in a Deep Reef and Sand Habitat Off Puerto Rico".  Dahl, A.L., Journal of Marine Botany (1973). 
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"Cleaning Symbiosis in Puerto Rico with Comparison to the Tropical Pacific". Losey, G., Copiea (1973). 

"Siltation Experiments in Corals, in Situ". Kolehmainen, S. Science (1974). 

"Oxygen Balance of Tropical Benthic Communities".  Wells, J.M. and Olsen, D.A., Proc., Xth. Mtg. Associated Island Marine Biology Lab of the Caribbean (1973). 

"Undersea Labs for Marine Resources Inventory".  Koblick, I.G., Biaggi, J.V., Olsen, D.A., and Geiger, E.M., Marine Technology Society Journal. Vol. 8, No. 1, 1974. 

“Results of a Workshop on Coral Reef Research and Management in the Florida Keys: A Blueprint for Action”.  Miller, J. Editor. National Undersea Research Program Research Report 88-5 (1988)

Facilitated Research and Helped Establish Medical Expertise for Man In Sea Programs

Antiobiotic sensitivity testing in hpyerbaric conditions. Dr. Bill Soeffing, University of Sioux Falls. Ongoing study since 1998.

Seawater exchange systems to provide life support in manned undersea habitats.  Olstad C.S..  MRDF Internal Report, September 1992.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. 
Doppler study on human subjects living in saturation (1989-1991). For a complete list of publications resulting from the Doppler Study, click here.

Duke University/Aquanautics. 
Use of underwater habitat providing temperature, pressure and proximity controls to test filtration device for artificial gills (1984). 

Internally Funded. Develop efficient scrubber for semi-closed breathing system for saturation diving (1976). 

Puerto Rico Department of Health. Develop and carry out a training program in hyperbaric medicine and decompression chamber operation.  Develop a plan for a portable hyperbaric facility for Puerto Rico (1974). 

PUBLICATIONS

“The efficacies of common antibiotics administered at 1.62 ATA to two escherichia coli variants”. Kuske S.G..  Sioux Falls University, Hyperbaric Studies Sect - Marine Microbiology, report.  May 1991

“Antibiotic sensitivity testing at hyperbaric conditions (1.62 ATA)”. Bacon J.J., Iverson D.A., Wortham G.M.. Sioux Falls University. Presented at 1993 National Academy of Sciences Meeting. 

“The changing population distribution of coliform, pseudomonal, and staphylococcal species inhabiting the external auditory canal, as they respond to hyperbaric incubation periods between frequent marine diving exposures”. Tieszen K.K..  Sioux Falls University, 
Hyperbaric Studies Sect - Marine Microbiology, report.  May 1991. 

 

MRDF's work in fisheries research and aquaculture provided valuable data for ongoing projects.

NASA OCEAN Project (hydroponics).  Chamberland, D.  John F. Kennedy Space Center Office of Biological Research and Life Support, report.  May 1994. 

Development of Gracilaria species (marine algae) for human consumption.  The resulting product was sold to South Florida retailers and  Disney’s Living Seas restaurant at Epcot Center as Sea Sprouts (1986). 

Internally funded. Exploratory long line swordfish fishing project yielding new fishing resources for Puerto Rico (1978).

Puerto Rico Department of Agriculture. Fisheries research program utilizing an undersea laboratory (1974). 

NOAA Sea Grant Office. Study of lobsters as a food source in the Virgin Islands (1970). 

Resulting Publications: 
"Population Dynamics, Ecology, and Behavior of Spiny Lobsters of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands"   Olsen, D.A., Herrnkind, W.A. and Cooper, R.A. Bulletin of Southern California Academic Sciences (1972). 

"Growth and Mortality of Spiny Lobsters of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands" Olsen, D.A., Herrnkind, W.A., and Koblick, I.G. , PRINUL Special Report (1972). 

 

MRDF has provided teacher training in marine ecology and undersea research since 1985.

Florida Advisory Council on Environmental Education. Grant to present a one-week workshop on the political and economic realities of environmental protection to 70 Florida middle and high school science teachers (1996). 

National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration. Presented a series of eight 14-day Marine Ecology & Technology Workshops to 500 middle and high school science teachers from around the nation.  These teachers were selected from over 1500 applicants, from American Samoa to Alaska and from Maine to the US Virgin Islands.  (1989, 1990, and 1991). 

Florida Advisory Council on Environmental Education. Organized and presented a 14-day workshop on Marine Ecology & Technology for 69  middle and high school science teachers from Florida (1990). 

South Florida Water Management District. Hosted and provided boats for the "Freshwater at the Land’s End” water resources workshops from 1992 until 1999.  The workshops, designed for Broward and Dade teachers, involve the hydrology of the Everglades system and South Florida’s water supply. 

Palm Beach County School Board (FL). Organized and presented a teacher inservice workshop on seagrass, mangrove, and coral reef ecology (1989). 

Broward County School Board (FL). Organized and presented inservice to Broward County teachers on seagrass, mangrove, and coral reef ecology (1986-87). 

Pioneered the use of satellites for ocean monitoring, establishing a vital link between space technology and ocean research.

NASA/Grumann Ecosystems Corp. Test/evaluation of the use of ERTS A satellites for monitoring water quality and fish migration. 

DEVELOPED THE TECHNIQUE FOR CONTROLLED EXTRACTION OF CALCIUM CARBONATE FROM SEAWATER FOR “MARINE ACCRETION PROJECTS” 

Chris Scala, artist: Accretion of several sculptures in the MRDF lagoon using this technique.  These sculptures include: a statue of a woman, “Thanks”, subsequently used in a fountain (1989); a sculpture called “Exploding Sphere”, which was displayed at the 1994 World Cup; and a statue named “Ascending Swimmer”, a larger-than-life female figure (1996). 

Michele Oka Doner, artist: Accretion of two obelisks which were then placed in a park in Santa Monica, CA. (1992). 

Kress Foundation: Experimental use of this technique to strengthen the submerged foundations of buildings in Venice, Italy (1991) 
 

Resulting Publications 

“The Venice Accretion Project”, Michele Oka Doner.  A Kress Foundation Publication (1991).