Guest Speaker
Dr. Bill Bushing first used SCUBA in 1962. He has logged thousands of dives mostly in southern California waters for research and educational purposes. Dr. Bill has published nearly 650 newspaper columns and peer-reviewed scientific papers. Dr. Bill has worked and dived with the likes of Jean-Michel Cousteau, Dr. Richard C. Murphy, Dr. Sylvia Earle, Dr. Milton Love, Dr. Guy Harvey, marine artist Wyland and others. Bill has worked as a marine biologist and underwater videographer for Lindblad/National Geographic Expeditions in the Sea of Cortez, Belize and Honduras. He has also dived in Italy, Greece, Thailand, Australia, Fiji, Tahiti, the Bahamas, the Philippines and Bonaire. He is the recipient of the 2011 California SCUBA Service Award
Bill has been a resident marine biologist on Santa Catalina Island since 1969. Upon graduation from Harvard College, he became head of the science and math departments at the Catalina Island School for Boys. While there, Bill initially taught marine biology on SCUBA to high school students, and developed a five-year science curriculum based on the use of Catalina as a natural laboratory. He taught at the school until it closed in 1979.
Beginning in the mid-70's, Bill served as a consultant, staff member and guest lecturer for Jean-Michel Cousteau’s Project Ocean Search Catalina. He later worked with Jean-Michel and his father, Jacques Yves Cousteau, as a consultant and facilitator during the filming of a two-hour Channel Islands episode in the "Cousteau's Rediscovery of the World" series for Turner Broadcasting. It was during this project that Dr. Bill was introduced to the use of video to document natural history when Jean-Michel handed him a camcorder and asked him to film the release of two bald eagles. Later, Bill was instrumental in helping Jean-Michel to establish a Catalina location for his Family Camp and other educational programs. Bill has worked on a number of educational projects for Jean-Michel's Ocean Futures organization, most recently filming spawning market squid and kelp forests in Catalina's waters. He has provided footage for PBS, NBC, ABC, CBS, The Weather Channel, NHK (Japan’s public TV network), and other broadcast outlets as well as several DVDs on southern California.
During the 1980s Bill served as a consultant to the Santa Catalina Island Company (SCICo). One of his projects was to write eleven training and reference manuals for the SCICo Discovery Tours division. He was responsible for quality control on all the tours they operated including the glassbottom boats, flying fish and Seal Rocks trips.
Bill's Ph.D.in marine ecology from the University of California Santa Barbara focused on ground breaking research in the use of satellite remote sensing and geographic information systems (GIS) to study the long-term distribution and persistence of giant kelp forests (Macrocystis pyrifera) around Santa Catalina Island. This research developed a methodology for creating a network of marine reserves, and one of his scientific papers was recommended to Dr. Jane Lubchenco, Head of NOAA, as a good example of marine reserve criteria by a group of scientists. His other research interests include the dispersal of non-motile marine invertebrates on drifting kelp, and ecological factors associated with the designation of marine protected areas and reserves. Bill also taught satellite remote sensing for several years at UCSB.
In the 1990's Dr. Bushing served as a consultant and then Vice President for Science, Education and Ecological Restoration (SEER) for the Santa Catalina Island Conservancy, owners of 88% of the island. During this period he instituted a number of important conservation programs including non-native invasive plant control, the elimination of non-native animals, a GPS-based native and rare plant mapping program, an island wide GIS, and active ecological restoration of damaged sites. Under his direction the Conservancy greatly expanded its educational programs with an integrated curriculum in the local schools, greater local community education and public outreach through methods like the Conservancy's first Internet web site. He was also a supporter of the Catalina Conservancy Divers.
In June of 2000 Dr. Bushing left the Conservancy to focus on the kelp forests of Catalina. Bill writes a weekly newspaper column, "Dive Dry with Dr. Bill," on marine life and ecology, and has two cable television programs, one with the same name and another, “Munching and Mating in the Macrocystis,” about the ecology of kelp forests. Dr. Bushing has also produced more than two dozen educational underwater videos, and lectures for various dive clubs and other marine or conservation oriented groups. His readers and viewers thus have the opportunity to "dive dry" in their easy chairs without the need for a wetsuit or cold water.
Further information about his activities can be found at the web site http://www.StarThrower.org.
Dr. Bill Bushing first used SCUBA in 1962. He has logged thousands of dives mostly in southern California waters for research and educational purposes. Dr. Bill has published nearly 650 newspaper columns and peer-reviewed scientific papers. Dr. Bill has worked and dived with the likes of Jean-Michel Cousteau, Dr. Richard C. Murphy, Dr. Sylvia Earle, Dr. Milton Love, Dr. Guy Harvey, marine artist Wyland and others. Bill has worked as a marine biologist and underwater videographer for Lindblad/National Geographic Expeditions in the Sea of Cortez, Belize and Honduras. He has also dived in Italy, Greece, Thailand, Australia, Fiji, Tahiti, the Bahamas, the Philippines and Bonaire. He is the recipient of the 2011 California SCUBA Service Award
Bill has been a resident marine biologist on Santa Catalina Island since 1969. Upon graduation from Harvard College, he became head of the science and math departments at the Catalina Island School for Boys. While there, Bill initially taught marine biology on SCUBA to high school students, and developed a five-year science curriculum based on the use of Catalina as a natural laboratory. He taught at the school until it closed in 1979.
Beginning in the mid-70's, Bill served as a consultant, staff member and guest lecturer for Jean-Michel Cousteau’s Project Ocean Search Catalina. He later worked with Jean-Michel and his father, Jacques Yves Cousteau, as a consultant and facilitator during the filming of a two-hour Channel Islands episode in the "Cousteau's Rediscovery of the World" series for Turner Broadcasting. It was during this project that Dr. Bill was introduced to the use of video to document natural history when Jean-Michel handed him a camcorder and asked him to film the release of two bald eagles. Later, Bill was instrumental in helping Jean-Michel to establish a Catalina location for his Family Camp and other educational programs. Bill has worked on a number of educational projects for Jean-Michel's Ocean Futures organization, most recently filming spawning market squid and kelp forests in Catalina's waters. He has provided footage for PBS, NBC, ABC, CBS, The Weather Channel, NHK (Japan’s public TV network), and other broadcast outlets as well as several DVDs on southern California.
During the 1980s Bill served as a consultant to the Santa Catalina Island Company (SCICo). One of his projects was to write eleven training and reference manuals for the SCICo Discovery Tours division. He was responsible for quality control on all the tours they operated including the glassbottom boats, flying fish and Seal Rocks trips.
Bill's Ph.D.in marine ecology from the University of California Santa Barbara focused on ground breaking research in the use of satellite remote sensing and geographic information systems (GIS) to study the long-term distribution and persistence of giant kelp forests (Macrocystis pyrifera) around Santa Catalina Island. This research developed a methodology for creating a network of marine reserves, and one of his scientific papers was recommended to Dr. Jane Lubchenco, Head of NOAA, as a good example of marine reserve criteria by a group of scientists. His other research interests include the dispersal of non-motile marine invertebrates on drifting kelp, and ecological factors associated with the designation of marine protected areas and reserves. Bill also taught satellite remote sensing for several years at UCSB.
In the 1990's Dr. Bushing served as a consultant and then Vice President for Science, Education and Ecological Restoration (SEER) for the Santa Catalina Island Conservancy, owners of 88% of the island. During this period he instituted a number of important conservation programs including non-native invasive plant control, the elimination of non-native animals, a GPS-based native and rare plant mapping program, an island wide GIS, and active ecological restoration of damaged sites. Under his direction the Conservancy greatly expanded its educational programs with an integrated curriculum in the local schools, greater local community education and public outreach through methods like the Conservancy's first Internet web site. He was also a supporter of the Catalina Conservancy Divers.
In June of 2000 Dr. Bushing left the Conservancy to focus on the kelp forests of Catalina. Bill writes a weekly newspaper column, "Dive Dry with Dr. Bill," on marine life and ecology, and has two cable television programs, one with the same name and another, “Munching and Mating in the Macrocystis,” about the ecology of kelp forests. Dr. Bushing has also produced more than two dozen educational underwater videos, and lectures for various dive clubs and other marine or conservation oriented groups. His readers and viewers thus have the opportunity to "dive dry" in their easy chairs without the need for a wetsuit or cold water.
Further information about his activities can be found at the web site http://www.StarThrower.org.
