On November 5, IMET's Dr. Eric Schott and the National Aquarium's Charmaine Dahlenburg gave a public lecture titled, "The Ecology of Baltimore Harbor: Using Community Science to Illuminate Hidden Biodiversity." 

In the 1970s, Baltimore’s Inner Harbor was transformed from an obsolete hub of commerce and transportation into a domain of waterfront attractions with venues such as the Maryland Science Center and National Aquarium. This introduced a vision of the harbor as a scenic aquatic backdrop and raised expectations for the water to be healthy. In 2011, this expectation was elevated by the Waterfront Partnership’s “Swimmable Fishable by 2020” campaign.

Now, the focus on the harbor is deepening once more, with an appreciation for the marine organisms within it and how they reveal the harbor’s connections to the ocean. Come hear how a coalition of academics, students, and citizen scientists are using visual and genetic methods to explore the abundance and diversity of life beneath the murky water of the Inner Harbor.