Mote Magazine, Autumn 2011

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Autumn 2011 INSIDE MOTE MAGAZINE Penguin Primer 3 Illuminating Diabolical Doings in the Deep 4 Upcoming Events Calendar 6 Treating Tumors One Turtle at a Time 8 Issues & Impacts 11 Mote Milestones 13

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This is a publication that circulates to 10,000 to 15,000 Members and supporters of Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium. An abbreviated edition is also published within Sarasota Magazine.

Transcript of Mote Magazine, Autumn 2011

Page 1: Mote Magazine, Autumn 2011

Autumn 2011

INSIDE MOTE MagazINE

Penguin Primer 3

Illuminating Diabolical Doings in the Deep 4

Upcoming Events Calendar 6

Treating Tumors One Turtle at a Time 8

Issues & Impacts 11

Mote Milestones 13

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Page 2: Mote Magazine, Autumn 2011

sponsored reporTsponsored reporT

2 MOTE MAGAZINE | AuTuMN 2011

Create a Lifetime of Memories

Your membership supports Mote research, conservation and outreach programs. Join today or give a gift membership.

For more information visit

www.mote.org/membership or call (941) 388-4441, ext. 373

A black-footed penguin. They’ll be arriving at Mote Aquarium in November.

Cover Photo

President and CEODr. Kumar Mahadevan

EditorNadine Slimak

Creative DirectorLawson Mitchell

CONTRIBUTING WriterSFord Turner, Hayley Rutger

Contributing PhotographerSKelly Ireland, Lawson Mitchell, Mote Animal Care Staff

PUBLISHING PARTNERMote Magazine is proud to recognize Sarasota Magazine as its publishing partner. For information on sponsorship, please contact Sarasota Magazine, at 941-487-1109.

AUTUMN 2011 • VOLUME 58

Visit www.mote.org

Mote Magazine | A unique mission

Mote Magazine (ISSN 1553-1104) is

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and Aquarium, a nonprofit organization

dedicated to today’s research for tomorrow’s

oceans. We tell the stories of sea science to

enhance public understanding of marine

research and conservation.

Mote AquariumVenue Rentals

Call Paula Clark for details:

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[email protected].

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At Mote Aquarium, we’re count-ing down the days until Penguin Island makes its

official public debut on Nov. 1.

This temporary penguin home,

open through February 2012, means

we have plenty to do to make sure

our black-tie visitors have a safe

and happy stay in Sarasota. We’ll

be building new exhibit areas in

the Courtyard, conducting special

trainings for our animal care staff

and volunteers and even adding

some special programs for guests.

While we’re pretty sure everyone

knows some penguin basics (they’re

birds, they have feathers, they cannot

fly) we thought we’d share some of the

lesser-known penguin particulars —

after all, don’t you need some fun trivia

to help see you through the season’s

cocktail parties and charity balls?

WHAT ARE THEy CALLED?

The Mote Aquarium penguins will be

black-footed penguins — an endan-

gered species. The species is also

known as the jackass penguin because

they bray like donkeys and African pen-guins because they’re native to South Africa. Their genus name, Spheniscus, means “little wedge” in Greek, and their species name, demersus, means “diving” in Latin. (For the record, Mote’s penguin mascot is called Percy.)

HoW Do THEy MEASURE UP?Black-footed penguins are about 2 feet tall and weigh 4 to 8 pounds. The largest penguins alive today are emperor penguins, at about 3 feet tall and 80 pounds. Compare that to the now-extinct Anthropornis nordenskjoeldi, which was about 5 feet tall and weighed in at about 200 pounds. (Now how would you like to see him waddling up in a tuxedo? He would have been quite an im-posing dance partner, no doubt!)

WHo SAW THEM FIRST?Undoubtedly, the locals saw black-footed penguins first. But the first recorded sighting by European explor-ers was made in the diary of one of the sailors on Vasco da Gama’s trip around the Cape of Good Hope. According to an excerpt from a new translation by Glenn J. Ames (Em nome de Deus: The Journal of the First Voyage of Vasco da Gama to India, 1497-1499), the Portu-guese expedition spotted the birds on an islet in Mossel Bay known as Seal Island. According to the sailor’s diary: “on this island there are also birds, as big as ducks, but they cannot fly because they do not have feathers on their wings. They are called fortilicaios and we killed as many of them as we liked. These birds bray like asses.”

Fortunately, humans have come a long way in our understanding of pen-guins (they really do have feathers!) and today we’re working to conserve these threatened birds — not shoot them!

SPEAKING oF SAVING THEM…For as little as $30, you can adopt a penguin in Mote’s Penguin Island. A portion of the proceeds will support wild penguin conservation programs of the Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds. Visit www.mote.org/adopt for details.

Penguin Primerby Nadine Slimak

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Dr. Ellen Prager will speak at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 28, 2011, in Mote’s Immersion Cinema, 1600 Ken Thompson Parkway, Sarasota. The talk is free but space is limited and reservations are required. Call 941-388-4441, ext. 691 to register. The lineup for Mote’s 2012 Special Lecture Series will also be announced at that time.

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Undersea creatures have been doing what they do down there — engaging in unimagi-

nable sex rituals, diabolical killings and unholy feasts — for countless centuries, but it took Dr. Ellen Prager to illumi-nate it with the light of human drama.

Prager is the author of the new book, Sex, Drugs, and Sea Slime: The Oceans’ Oddest Crea-tures and Why They Matter.

Her descriptions of the bizarre ways that creatures like the hagfish, the queen conch and the Maine lobster eat and mate and fight and kill are as com-

pelling as any great novel. The thing is ... these stories are completely true.

As a veteran marine scientist, Prager has served as chief scientist at the world’s only undersea research station, Aquarius Reef Base in Key Largo, and assistant dean at the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science. Her zeal for marine science, though, has evolved. Today, she’s a sought-after author and has appeared frequently on televi-sion. “I have a real passion for bring-ing the oceans and ocean science to a broader audience,” she says.

She’ll be doing just that during a Special Lecture at Mote in November, where she’ll reveal some of her favorite creature stories from the book. She’ll also explain why these sometimes dis-gusting, sometimes amazing creatures should matter to the average person.

Prager took a few minutes of her time recently to talk to Mote Magazine about her craft, her career and those diabolocal creatures.

The title, “Sex, Drugs, and Sea Slime,” seems to fit so perfectly what you wrote about. When did you come up with it — was it in the midst of your research?

It was towards the end. I started doing research for the book, combing through the literature, talking to col-leagues, and honestly, I kept finding these really wonderful, crazy stories.

These themes just started evolv-ing. I did not realize how many animals in the ocean have, use, or are made up of slime! It is truly amazing.

Illuminating Diabolical Doings in the Deepby Ford Turner

A queen conch’s eye stalks peer out from its shell.

© Kelly Ireland

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Then, wow, the whole sex thing came up! I discovered just how many unusual and funny strategies there are for organisms to reproduce in the ocean.

And then the last theme, drugs, emerged. I have worked with a lot of scientists who study marine animals to improve human health, in biomedical research and in the search for phar-maceuticals. But I didn’t really realize the breadth and diversity of marine animals being used in that way.

So there you have it: sex, drugs and sea slime!

If you had to pick one, what is the most fascinatingly gross creature you wrote about?

oh, I can’t pick just one!

Maybe a top three?

It would have to include the hagfish, which I found fascinating, funny and totally gross. Also, the queen conch, because let’s just say the well-endowed males were not only surprising, but a funny well-known fact that the bi-ologists joked about in private. I think those two are certainly among the top in terms of fascinating or maybe funny.

The other extraordinary organ-ism that I would like to point out, that I think is really interesting, is the cone snail and the search for new pharma-ceuticals. There is, in fact, already a new painkiller on the market derived from the cone snail. But scientists think that this one creature in the ocean holds the most potential for drug discovery, more so than any other animal in the world.

There are two sentences from your description of the hagfish that I wanted to ask about: “Hagfishes have, however, discovered another, easier way to gain access to their victims’ tasty, tender insides. They go in through open orifices, such as the mouth, gills, or yes, I am sorry to say, the backdoor.” Yikes! Have you found that the hagfish is one that readers remember?

It is. People remember it. They laugh about it. you know, it is also “the slime monster.”

one of the things that I really love is when I see or hear about other people having fun with the informa-tion in the book. They have learned while also being entertained. And to me, engaging people with humor, and getting them to tell stories — you know, I have heard people tell their friends these stories — is just so gratifying.

Did you grow up near the ocean?

I grew up outside of Boston. Not really at the ocean, but my parents took me snorkeling when I was a kid and I used to go to the beach. And I always had a love of nature. I used to run around the woods, climb trees and pretend to be a naturalist.

When I was in high school, I was a lifeguard. one of the guys I worked with brought a scuba tank to the pool and said, “Hey, you want to try this?” They could not get me out of the pool afterward. I was hooked.

So, I got certified to scuba dive while I was in high school. Then I began taking science classes and started studying ocean science and just fell in love with it, particularly because I could combine scuba diving with science.

What has made you gravitate toward writing and public education, rather than just being a pure scientist?

It was not something that was my inten-tion when I started out in science.

over time, however, I started writing and doing more public speaking, bring-ing the oceans and ocean science to a broader audience. I love hearing stories from my colleagues and there is so much wonderful information that the public never hears about, but that they would be interested in. And it is so important for more people to understand ocean science and its importance to the planet and society. I developed a great passion, and what I think is a strength, for engag-ing and communicating to the public.

Are there greater concerns, follow-ing the Deepwater Horizon spill?

Before, during and after the spill there are great concerns about the

organisms living in the sea. The oil spill was just one moment. Climate change, overfishing, pollution in general and more are continuing to wreak havoc on the oceans and marine life, then and right now.

Certainly, we have to worry about what the impact of the oil spill was in the Gulf of Mexico. Particu-larly, I think, on the small organisms. We may have lost a whole genera-tion of fish larvae ... We don’t really know and it will take a long time to see the true ecological impacts.

You mean we can’t quantify them yet?

We can’t quantify the impacts, yet. We don’t know if we’ll ever be able to quantify them.

The sad thing is that, the whole oil spill was horrible, but what it also illustrates is that it got everybody up in arms because it was an immediate crisis that we could see, it was right in front of our eyes, on the televi-sion, the Internet, our mobile phones. We could see what was going on.

But, look at the harm done to the ocean by the cumulative impacts of our activities over time, that are just as bad, but it isn’t a crisis we can readily see. We continue to face ter-rible problems in the ocean. We have been having an impact on the ocean and killing marine life, for years. But it just isn’t that immediate crisis right in front of our eyes, that is so blatant.

It seems like there is so much more work for scientists to do.

There is so much we don’t know. I find that aspect of the ocean fascinating, because there is a tendency for people to overestimate how much we truly know about the ocean and marine life.

I hate to use a cliché, but it fits: “We have barely touched the surface.”

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Papilloma tumors grow on turtles’ soft tissues — in this case, a green sea turtle has growths on its eyes and skin.

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They arrive at the hospital some-times too weak to float or even lift their heads to breathe.

These sickly sea turtles are sometimes anemic, sometimes wrapped in fishing line and are often malnourished.

one thing many have in common: cauliflower-like growths believed to be caused by a virus. Though non-cancerous, the growths can be life threatening when they affect a turtle’s ability to forage for food or when the tumors grow internally on vital organs.

The tumors are evidence of a disease called fibropapillomatosis, or FP, says Meghan Koperski, an environmental specialist with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. “In Florida, it most often affects green sea turtles, but it’s been observed in all hard-shelled species. The numbers of turtles affected can vary substantially — we can have 10 in a year or well over 1,000.”

Mote’s Sea Turtle Rehabilitation Hospital is one of only four facilities in Florida that routinely houses and treats turtles with these tumors. Because the way the virus is transmitted remains unknown, turtles with FP must be quarantined from sick turtles without the disease. That means separate everything — from water filtration systems to food preparation areas.

Since 2003, the first year Mote admitted a turtle suffering from FP, 96 turtles with tumors have been treated and 37 have been released. “The tumors can affect everything from their shells, to their flippers to their eyes and even their little noses,” says Lynne Byrd, the hospital’s medical care coordina-tor. “If the tumors are all external, we can remove them with a laser or by performing cryosurgery and they do well and can be released. But if we find internal tumors, the most humane thing to do is to euthanize them. We recently treated a turtle that ended up having tumors in its bone. The tumors grew and just fractured the bones.”

What causes the disease? The

prevailing theory is that the turtles with tumors always carry the virus, which is believed to be a herpes strain (though a different strain from the one humans get) and that most of the time, the virus doesn’t cause any problems.

“But then a turtle can be affected by cold stress or something else that affects its immune system and all of a sudden, the virus is out of control and causing tumors,” says Dr. Andy Stamper, Mote’s veterinarian.

Florida seems to have hot spots where the disease is more preva-lent, Koperski says. “one theory is that we see turtles with papil-loma tumors in areas that have less-than-pristine water conditions.”

When scientists began looking at the disease, the fear was that the virus would decimate an already-depleted and endangered species. “But that doesn’t appear to be happening,” Koperski says. “In Hawaii, for instance, they’re start-ing to see a decline in the number of turtles with papilloma tumors. Perhaps the disease is essentially being weeded out over time. But sea turtles are such a long-lived species that it takes decades to understand if that is happening.”

For now, the focus is on under-standing where the disease occurs and attacking it from an epidemiological standpoint. “If there are environmental factors playing a role in the disease, then we may be able to improve the overall environment and lessen the incidence of disease that way,” Stamper says.

In the meantime, hospitals like Mote struggle for the funding to help get the turtles well and return them to the wild. “Unfortunately neither the state nor the federal government has the resources to fund rehabilitation programs,” Koperski says. “The Sea Turtle Conservancy, which administers funds raised through the sale of the Sea Turtle license plate, provides some funding, but there is never enough money. Instead, the sea turtles rely on or-ganizations like Mote and a contingent of volunteers throughout the state to help.”

Treating Tumors… One Turtle at a Timeby Nadine Slimak

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As a marine research laboratory and aquarium, Mote works to understand our oceans and teach people about them. We also feel compelled to try to save protected, threatened and endangered species like sea turtles and marine mammals that become ill or injured in our region. Helping these animals also provides information we can use to protect wild populations.

Each year, Mote must raise $125,000 just to keep the doors to the hospitals that treat these animals open — to provide the staff, the equipment, the medical pools — so they are at the ready to care for sick animals at a moment’s notice.

DoNATE oNLINE ToDAy at www.mote.org/hospitalhelp.

You can help

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10 MOTE MAGAZINE | AuTuMN 2011

Not only are tumors affecting this green sea turtle, but it has also become entangled in fishing line.

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With continued high unem-ployment rates and the U.S. economy still strug-

gling to overcome the recent reces-sion, many in our community are asking themselves “what’s next?”

Sarasota County showed a commitment to diversifying the region’s economy in trying to bring Jackson Labs to the area. While the plan eventually failed — through no fault of the many community leaders who worked to make it happen — the idea of using science and technology to grow our economy remains a good one.

The groundwork already exists in the Sarasota Economic Development Corporation’s emphasis on science and technology (S&T) in its strategic plan and in the many local homegrown engines of science and technology enterprise already in our midst.

For example, let’s take a look at Mote — a local institution for nearly 60 years — and some of its cutting-edge research programs that may serve as platforms for new businesses and economic development.

The federal government recently announced new efforts to expand aquaculture in the U.S. At Mote, we applaud these efforts as long as they are truly sustainable. With the ever-growing U.S. seafood trade deficit — now at about $10 billion per year — and the enormous amount of seafood

imported (85 percent) here, there is a critical need to develop and expand sustainable production technologies for marine and freshwater species.

U.S. aquaculture is inhibited by the high cost and limited availability of coastal lands, high production costs and governmental regulations. We must develop new methods of aqua-culture — especially land-based re-circulating systems — that do not harm the environment in order to reduce fishing pressure on wild populations and to expand seafood production that improves our own food security.

Mote is already an interna-tional leader in this arena.

At Mote Aquaculture Park in eastern Sarasota County, we have developed state-of-the-art indoor production systems for wild fish resto-ration and the commercial production of a variety of species. We have a com-mercially viable operation providing hundreds of pounds of superior, delicious, sustainable fish and caviar to consumers locally and nationally. (And soon we will even begin exporting our products to other countries.)

Water-recycling technologies, developed right here in Sarasota County, are ready for transfer to new start-up companies that can create new jobs to help feed the world. Mote has also begun working with commercial partners to develop feed

that does not require harvesting wild fish populations. New feed sources will further remove pressures from threatened marine fisheries currently used as sources for fishmeal.

When Jackson Laboratory was con-sidering Sarasota, Mote looked forward to developing close partnerships with them through the use of Florida “start-up” funds being proposed for the deal. The funds could have supported joint research positions and post-doctoral fellowships with Mote and perhaps even utilized Mote’s extensive existing laboratory infrastructure.

Why invest funds earmarked for attracting companies to instead enhance existing non-profit science and technology institutions like Mote?

We have an overall annual operating budget of about $18 million and 200 staff members. our research budget alone is more than $11 million, with about 100 research staff — a third of whom hold Ph.D.s.

Mote’s annual economic impact to our community has been estimated at more than $70 million. Mote conducts diverse research with enormous potential for intellectual property, licensing, venture capital investment and creation of new S&T start-up companies. Beyond sustain-able aquaculture, Mote has research focused on biomarkers, wound healing and human cancer therapies, ecogenomics and even robotics.

As a unique nonprofit, independent marine research institution, an entre-preneurial spirit is strongly embedded in Mote’s research culture. It is fuel for effectiveness and critical to attracting high-quality staff and scientists.

Perhaps it’s time to consider a re-emphasis on investment in homegrown engines of science and technology enterprise — Mote among them.

—Dr. Michael P. Crosby is Senior Vice President for Research at Mote and President of Sigma Xi-The Scientific Research Society.

—Dr. Kevan L. Main is Director of Mote’s Center for Aquaculture Research and Development and President-elect of the World Aquaculture Society.

Issues & Impacts

Aquaculture — and Science and Technology — as Economic Recoveryby Drs. Michael P. Crosby and Kevan L. Main

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E N H A N C E Y O U R S M I L E . E N H A N C E Y O U R L I F E .

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That’s when Tonya shared with Linda the person responsible for her beautiful smile, Dr. Christine Koval.

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Page 13: Mote Magazine, Autumn 2011

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FULL PAGE ADNew PartnershipMote and the National Wildlife Federation entered into a long-term partnership advancing science-based conservation and sustainable use programs related to marine biodiversity, healthy habitats and natural resources.

By joining forces on public outreach and education related to stable and sus-tainable use of resources, NWF and Mote hope to address threats to the marine environment and have a positive impact on public policy. A Memorandum of Understanding describing the five-year partnership was signed in Washington, D.C., during Capitol Hill oceans Week. This agreement to work together on specific projects will allow both organi-zations to advance the greater good of marine conservation and expand both organizations’ ability to attend to con-servation threats arising in the symbiotic connection between terrestrial and marine ecosystems.

Collection Earns Prestigious AccreditationThe Ruth DeLynn Cetacean os-teological Collection at Mote Marine Laboratory has received accredita-

tion by the American Society of Mammalogists (ASM), a nationwide mammal research society.

The osteological Collection holds 650 bone specimens from 17 species of dolphins and whales (cetaceans). Says the ASM: “Curator Ruth DeLynn has accomplished a Herculean task in her collection, preparation and organiza-tion of this collection. The meticulous detail afforded to each specimen… is remarkable. The resource that Ms. DeLynn has created for the scientific community is unsurpassed, and brings immense credit to Mote.”

To support this critical scientific resource, an anonymous donor recently established the “Ruth DeLynn Cetacean Collection at Mote Marine Laboratory Fund” with the Community Foundation of Sarasota County to support the Collection in perpetuity and allow Mote to showcase DeLynn’s work in a new public exhibit in Mote Aquarium that will open later this year.

To Protect and Conserve the Gulf of MexicoWhile representatives from scientific organizations, government, the

oil industry, commercial fishing and water recreation might have different ideas of what’s important about the Gulf of Mexico, most agreed on one thing during a recent two-day workshop at Mote’s Sarasota campus: that the Gulf needs better conservation and protection.

“Beyond the Horizon,” a two-day workshop convened by Mote, the Harte Research Institute, the University of South Florida College of Marine Sciences and the National Marine Sanctuaries Foundation, actually ended with a new beginning, organizers said.

“This was the first time we were able to bring this diverse group together to talk about unifying pro-tections for the Gulf, so really, we’re at the beginning stages of figuring out what additional conservation measures might be needed and how they could be implemented,” said Dr. Kim Ritchie, conference organizer and manager of Mote’s Marine Microbiol-ogy Program. “But everyone agreed that we need more protections — so that’s a really good place to start.”

Mote Milestones

Signing the Partnership Agreement: (From left to right) John Hammond, Regional Executive Director of the National Wildlife Federation’s Southeast Regional Center in Atlanta; Larry Schweiger, National Wildlife Federation President and CEO; Dr. Kumar Mahadevan, President and CEO of Mote Marine Laboratory; Dr. Michael Crosby, Senior Vice President for Research at Mote Marine Laboratory.

© Chris Kleponis/NWF.

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It was important to Betsy Bagby that when she retired, she would still be active and near a vibrant arts and cultural center. Plymouth Harbor’s proximity to downtown Sarasota makes it easy for her to pursue her passions of supporting the youth opera and attending performances whenever she wishes. And with so many neighbors who actively volunteer with other organizations, charities and civic organizations, she always feels right at home. Plymouth Harbor may be located at the center of Sarasota, but our residents are the heart of the community.

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When Don Marshall and his wife, Roma, moved

to Sarasota, they took several positions as

volunteers — including one working for Mote’s

Mobile exhibit. Don found it fascinating, and the

longer he worked, the more his knowledge of

the sea and its creatures grew.

When Roma died in 2004, Don threw himself

even more into volunteering at Mote. Now Don

serves as the day chairman of the Monday

afternoon guides in the aquarium — and is more

convinced than ever that educating the public

about marine life is the best way to protect it.

That’s Don’s motive for including a gift in his will

to Mote’s Education Division. What will yours be?

If you, too, feel that Mote’s many research and

education endeavors are worthy of your support,

we encourage you to speak with anna Hayes in

the Development Office.

She can show you a number of ways to include

Mote in your estate plans, including some

that give you a lifetime income and still leave a

handsome gift to Mote Marine Laboratory and

aquarium. To arrange a mutually convenient time,

call (941) 388-4441, ext. 261, or e-mail anna@

mote.org.

Creating Your Plan for giving Back

(941) 388-4441, Ext. 261 • e-mail [email protected]

Teaching new generations about the sea is Don Marshall’s motive for providing a gift to Mote as part of his estate plan. What will yours be?

NON PROFiT ORg.U.S. Postage

PAiDManasota, FLPermit #1201

1600 Ken Thompson ParkwaySarasota, FL 34236-1004

(941) 388-4441www.mote.org

www.mote.org

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