utbound trip and hundreds of pounds of fish that were caught in the remote villages on the return. As a result of these various projects and with the arrival of a new group of fisheries volunteers, more fish reached the markets than ever before and during the first 18 months that this new group of volunteers was in the country, the importation of canned fish into Western Samoa dropped significantly.
During his Peace Corps years, Gene experienced first-hand, many of the fisheries traditions unique to the south seas, including the rather remarkable way the people of the South Pacific fish for that most feared creature of the sea, the shark.
In addition to adventures underwater in Samoa, there were also some pretty interesting experiences underground during the exploration of an ancient lava tube that was once used as a place of refuge by the Samoan people over seven hundred years ago.
During the many years that Gene has spent going out
to sea, he has come face to face with more than his fair share of marine life. After Peace Corps, he worked as a fisheries biologist in Seattle, Alaska and San Diego.
It was through a combination of taking to
heart the old sayings of "my boat is so small and the ocean so wide" and
"you can't tell the forest for the trees", that Gene first became interested
in the prospect of using satellite observations to help get a better
understanding of how the oceans worked. This led to his becoming a Graduate Research Fellow at the Marine Sciences Research Center, State University of New York at Stony Brook, where for his dissertation, he used satellite and oceanographic data to study the variability in, and the relationship between, the physical and biological processes in the ocean.
The author and co-author of numerous publications, Gene has also contributed to a large number of programs including The Jason Project, Public Broadcasting, the BBC, the Discovery Channel, the National Geographic Society, the Cousteau Society, the Smithsonian Institution, and U.S. Congress Office of Technology Assessment. In addition, he has been a member of the U.S. Scientific Steering Committee for the National Science Foundation's Joint Global Ocean Flux Study, a program to study the ocean's role in the global carbon cycle. He was on the International Science Advisory Council for the Coastal Rhythms Exhibition at the New England Aquarium, and was involved with the joint NOAA/NASA project studying the Health, Ecological, and Econonic Dimensions of Global Change. Recently, he helped put together a Podcast for the COSEE-NOW website and was invited to present a lecture at the Library of Congress which was entitled "Observing the Living Oceans from Space" which is available as an online webcast. An appropriately named Maniac Lecture lecture entitled "Satellites, Seabirds and Seals: A thirty year retrospective of Ocean Color from Space" was given on June 27, 2012 at NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center.
One of his favorite collaborations involved working with Ned Potter on the one year anniversary story for Peter Jennings and the ABC World News Tonight.
Gene has been involved in using the World Wide Web (since January, 1994)
and other emerging technologies to reach out to a wider audience. He is
the creator of the JASON Project Home Page, which in collaboration with
Dr. Robert Ballard, of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, who led the team that found the wreck of the R.M.S. Titanic,
and The JASON Foundation for Education, are using advanced interactive
telecommuncations to educate and excite students about science and technology.
As part of his JASON experiences, Gene has had an opportunity to participate in a number of JASON expeditions including JASON IV to the Gulf of California,
where the underwater mysteries of hydrothermal vents were explored. During
JASON V Expedition to Belize, Gene ran fiber optic cables through the rain forest of Belize to establish JASON's Jungle Computer Lab that was used during the live expedition broadcasts. As part of the JASON VI: Island Earth Expedition, Gene helped develop the Spiders of