Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Sanctuary Designation Process

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National Marine Sanctuary Program Honors
Friends Lost on September 11

Photo: Greg McFall/NOAA

Under a sun-filled sky, staff from the National Marine Sanctuary Program gathered aboard a former Coast Guard patrol boat, soon to be research vessel, to remember Joe Ferguson, the National Geographic Society educator and sanctuary advocate who perished on September 11^th. The waterside ceremony was held on February 20 at the University of Georgia‚ Marine Education Center and Aquarium dock on Skidaway Island, Ga.

Five months earlier, on an equally sunny day, Joe Ferguson, director of the National Geographic Society Education and Outreach Program and Ann Judge, director of the Society's travel office, were escorting teachers and students for a week-long field trip to the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary. The students and their teachers, all from Washington, D.C., had been selected to participate in one of the exploration education events. Teacher James Debeuneure and student Rodney Dickens were representing Ketcham Elementary School; teacher Sarah Clark and student Asia Cottom were from Backus Middle School; and teacher Hilda Taylor and student Bernard Brown were from Leckie Elementary School. All the students were 11-year-old sixth graders. The group was among those aboard American Airlines Flight 77 when it was crashed into the Pentagon.

The Santa Barbara, California workshop had been planned, with Ferguson's help, to introduce the Washington, D.C. students to the Sustainable Seas Expeditions, a project of underwater exploration and discovery with a special emphasis on the nation's 13 national marine sanctuaries. SSE was jointly conducted by National Geographic Society and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Sanctuary.

In 1999, SSE had spent two weeks exploring NOAA's Gray's Reef Marine Sanctuary. Soon after September 11, Sanctuary Manager Reed Bohne requested that Georgia's Gray's Reef Sanctuary dedicate their new research vessel the R/V Joe Ferguson.

At the naming ceremony, Bohne remembered Ferguson's dedication to science and his passion for introducing children, unfamiliar with the ocean, to all its wonders.

The staff at Gray's Reef felt it was important to name the vessel in Joe's honor in recognition of all he has done to educate students about the marine environment and America's ocean treasures," said Bohne.

The National Marine Sanctuary Program Director Daniel J. Basta traveled to Georgia to join sanctuary managers from around the country in honoring Ferguson.

The new vessel will greatly improve our research capabilities and allow the staff to spend more time on the water protecting sanctuary resources," said Basta. Naming the vessel in Joe's honor is our small gesture to remember those that were lost on Sept. 11."

The former patrol boat, converted now for scientific and educational programs, will be the primary research vessel the sanctuary. With a cruising speed of 26 knots, sanctuary staff plan to use the vessel to support patrols of sanctuary water, maintenance of buoys, reef fish and habitat assessments, and water quality monitoring. The R/V Joe Ferguson will also be used to assist local scientists in individual projects. The vessel will be re-powered with new engines and made ready for full use later this Spring.

"This was the first, but it won't be the last time we remember and celebrate the brave students and educators who died on September 11," said Basta. "We are grateful for Joe's dedication in sharing our national marine sanctuaries with others. His work will not be forgotten."

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March 26, 2002