NOAA Celebrates New Gulf of Mexico Museum
Tim Osborn
NOAA Coastal Survey
April 24, 2009 — Jack Dunnigan, assistant administrator for NOAA’s Ocean Service, joined Alabama Governor Bob Riley, Sen. Richard Shelby, Rep. Jo Bonner and other state and local officials at an April 13 keel-laying ceremony for the new National Maritime Museum of the Gulf of Mexico in Mobile, Ala.
From left: Councilman Mike Dean, Congressman Jo Bonner, E.B. Peebles (GulfQuest Museum Board), Gov. Bob Riley, Sen. Richard Shelby, City Council President Reggie Copeland, NOAA Assistant Administrator for NOS Jack Dunnigan, and Tony Zodrow (GulfQuest Museum), at the keel-laying ceremony of the National Museum of the Gulf of Mexico.
Photo credit: Tim Osborn, NOAA/NOS.
The new museum, known as GulfQuest, is projected to open in the spring of 2011 in downtown Mobile by the port and next to the cruise ship terminal. Supported by NOAA grants, GulfQuest will be the first museum dedicated to the Gulf Coast’s rich maritime traditions — and only the third interactive maritime museum in the world. It will specifically feature exhibits on the nation’s history and the Gulf of Mexico.
“The Gulf of Mexico has perhaps been somewhat overlooked by historians and researchers (although it) is the ninth largest body of water in the world,” Dunnigan told the crowd. He added that the Gulf “provides invaluable resources for our nation: essential fisheries and wildlife habitats, attractive beaches for maritime recreation, seven of the nation’s top 10 shipping ports, four of the nation’s top seven fishing ports, and 90 percent of the nation’s offshore oil/gas production.”
One of NOAA’s contributions to the new museum — placed on exhibit at both the museum reception and the keel laying ceremony — is a copper chart plate used by the agency in 1851 to print the navigational chart “Entrance to Mobile Bay.” The copper plate, hand-etched in reverse (mirror) format, was one of the first plates used to print charts for navigation into the Port of Mobile.
As part of his remarks, Dunnigan emphasized NOAA’s commitment to the museum. “NOAA is already a partner with the Maritime Museum, providing financial and technical support for the museum’s interactive exhibits, many of which feature the same areas that dominate NOAA’s scientific endeavors — marine archeology, oceanography, meteorology, marine ecology and coastal resource conservation,” Dunnigan said.
NOAA is also developing a new Sea Grant Extension/Outreach/Education program to reside at GulfQuest. Several Sea Grant extension specialists will be onsite to engage the public on priority Gulf issues and to better communicate NOAA’s scientific research initiatives.
From left: Mike Szabados (NOAA/NOS), Jimmy Lyons (executive director of the Port of Mobile), NOAA Assistant Administrator for NOS Jack Dunnigan, and E.B. Peebles (GulfQuest Museum board) with a historic copper chart plate NOAA contributed to the museum. The plate is hand-etched in a reverse (mirror) format. Photo credit: Tim Osborn, NOAA/NOS.