He complained that "people didn't want to hear what we were saying."

He blamed that hostility for the 1991 incident involving his resume.

• • •

That year, when Gerstein applied for a federal permit to conduct a manatee study for the Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota, he included this line on his resume: "1979. Masters of Science Department of Biology Graduate Program, University of West Florida."

The words "Masters of Science" were underlined.

Huff, now retired, was then the research administrator at the state's Florida Wildlife Research Institute charged with overseeing Gerstein's state-funded research. He discovered Gerstein had no master's degree from UWF. When he confronted him about it, Gerstein had no defense, memos from that time indicate. (Gerstain has since obtained a master's and a doctorate in psychology from FAU.)

When hethis one for endangered right whales, which migrate between Florida and New England and have been hit from time to time by ships.

Nowacek said the MAD-style beacons would put the whales in greater danger rather than saving them. In a 2004 experiment, he said, scientists blasted a loud noise at whales feeding in deep water.

Instead of scattering, the whales fled to shallower water where they became even more vulnerable to being struck by ships.

"They went from a place that was safe to a place that was unsafe," he said, "and ships still couldn't see them."

Times senior news researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report. Contact Craig Pittman at craig@tampabay.com. Follow @craigtimes.