BRS Feb 2007 meeting

Moe_K

Stabbed by Foulke
The next meeting for the Boston Reefers' Society will be:
11:00am to 4:30pm on Saturday 24Feb2007.


The location is the VFW lodge at 32 Park St in North Andover, MA.

Click here for a link to a map.


We will have a guest speaker who will give us a presentation on sea horses. More details to follow.

Here's the more details (Greg posting in here)

Jorge Gomezjurado will be giving the presentation, there's a bit of a bio on him below. There will also be a group buy on seahorses (15% discount) at the time of the meeting which will also be extended for several weeks after the meeting as well. Details of the buy are here:

http://www.bostonreefers.org/forums/showthread.php?p=390283#post390283

Jorge Gomezjurado is the president and founder of Draco Marine Aquaculture, LLC. Jorge has been fascinated by seahorses since he was very young. At the age of five, his sister gave him a dry seahorse and he kept it for a couple years, observing the animal?s fascinating features. After obtaining his degree in Fisheries Sciences and Technology at the Escuela Superior Politectnica del Litoral (Santa Elena, Ecuador) in 1994, Jorge was hired as a research associate at the Charles Darwin Research Station (CDRS) in the Galapagos Islands. At the CDRS Jorge assisted the Director of the Marine Laboratory by doing research on ecology of marine benthic communities and reproductive biology of several marine invertebrates. One of the main projects that he assisted was a study on population ecology and reproductive biology of the commercial sea cucumber Stichopus fuscus. This is when seahorses called his attention again.

Seahorses Hippocampus ingens were being collected by commercial sea cucumber divers and dried on the deck of their fishing boats. After a little investigation he found that the seahorses were been exported to Asia to be used for Traditional Chinese Medicines. At the CDRS Jorge was also in charge of the dive operations and laboratory research vessels. In the Galapagos, Jorge had the opportunity to make 3 deep dives aboard the Johnson Sea Link Submersible from the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution. During his time at the Charles Darwin Research Station Jorge also had the opportunity to participate with many visiting international scientists on their research trips around the islands. This experience gave him a wide knowledge of the fauna and flora, habitats and geography of the Islands.

In 1996 Jorge moved to San Francisco, California and worked at the Academy of Sciences' Steinhart Aquarium as an Aquatic Biologist II. At Steinhart, Jorge proposed, developed and managed the Pacific Giant Seahorse Hippocampus ingens breeding program, where he established innovative aquaculture technology protocols for successfully breeding this species. In 1998 Jorge was one of the 35 public aquarium members invited to participate at the First International Aquarium Workshop on Seahorse Husbandry, Management, and Conservation organized by Project Seahorse and the John G. Shedd Aquarium in Chicago.

In July 1999, Jorge joined the National Aquarium in Baltimore (NAIB),where he designed, developed and managed the Seahorse Breeding Laboratory at the University of Maryland?s Center of Marine Biotechnology (COMB) and he was the instrumental member of the designing team for the NAIB's world renowned seahorse exhibit, ?Seahorses: Beyond Imagination.? To date Jorge has successfully bred and raised 14 species of seahorses and 6 species of pipefish

Jorge's specialty is Marine Aquaculture with emphasis in fish reproduction and sustainable aquaculture engineering. Jorge has dived and observed seahorses and other Syngnathids in the wild in the Galapagos Islands, the coast of Ecuador, the west coast of Mexico, the coast of Southern and North California, the Mid Atlantic coast of America and the Caribbean. He has also participated during the collection and transport of seahorses on the Adriatic coast of Italy.

As an experienced seahorse biologist who is widely respected in the aquarium and aquaculture industry, Jorge has been asked to consult with many institutions in the areas of seahorse aquaculture and aquarium public exhibitions in Italy, Ireland, Spain, Peru, Ecuador and several in the USA.

Jorge currently is a UMBI/COMB Research Specialist collaborating with the University of Maryland on the research and development of technology to culture different aquatic organisms of high economical value in the seafood, medical research and general aquaculture industry.


We will have the usual frag swap at the end of the meeting. There may be a raffle too. Again, more details to come.

Please ask all questions regarding joining the club or how meetings work in this thread. :)
 
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This will be my first meeting and I'm looking forward to attending.

If my 10 year son wants to attend will this be a problem?

I don't have corals, should I plan to remain for the frag swap or is it ok to leave at the conclusion of the presentation ?

Any suggestions for a newbies first meeting?

Thanks

Bonnie:)
 
No problem on bringing your son, Bonnie. Lots of people bring kids.

Stick around for the frag swap - many folks offer items for purchase, and at the end some folks give things away for free. At least you'll get to see the chaos and last bastion of capitalism that is our frag swap. :p

Suggestions? Hmm. Bring $20 and join as a member. See Paul (PenMan) at the front table. He'll get you a name tag for the meeting and can get set up as a member. You don't have to join to attend the meeting, but why not support the BRS?
[Edit - ooops, I see Bonnie is already a member. Thanks!]

Oh, and if you're stading around feeling out of place, just ask somebody near you (anybody) "What size tank are you running, and what kind of skimmer did you buy?" That always starts a conversation with our peeps. :)
 
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The meetings are very relaxed, so when we say "frag swap" it mostly means people hanging around and talking about more reef stuff and socialising. No problem coming late or leaving early.
 
New information added to first post regarding the speaker and the meeting associated group buy.
 
Is there any sort of food at the meeting or should I eat beforehand? If not, is it ok to bring a snack/sandwich of some sort? People ever thrown down on some pizza or something like that? Anyone interested in doing that if it's ok? Really looking forward to attending. :D
 
Is there any sort of food at the meeting or should I eat beforehand? If not, is it ok to bring a snack/sandwich of some sort? People ever thrown down on some pizza or something like that? Anyone interested in doing that if it's ok? Really looking forward to attending. :D
Usually, the BRS buys lots of pizza. We put out a donations jar to help offset the cost of food.
So, eat beforehand if you want. Bring food if you want to. Or, just wait for the pizza to be delivered, offer up a couple bucks per slice, and then munch away.
 
never been to a meeting and not a member right now. I'm a new reefer trying to stock up on some cheap coral... I use this site all the time but want to see how the meetings are.

can i just come at the end of the meeting for the frag swap? how does it work? is there just tables and tables of ppl with their frags and you just walk all over buying whatever frags you want? or does everyone who brings frags only sell to those who reserved them via these posts??

I noticed a lot of ppl using posts for selling their frags for the meeting so just wondering if I'd be able to go there without any frags to offer and purchase some to start my tank? you said previously you don't have to become a member to go to meeting but if I found frags to purchase i would help support BRS by becoming one

how many ppl go to these meeting roughly? 20, 50, 100, 500, ??
 
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never been to a meeting and not a member right now. I'm a new reefer trying to stock up on some cheap coral... I use this site all the time but want to see how the meetings are.

can i just come at the end of the meeting for the frag swap? how does it work? is there just tables and tables of ppl with their frags and you just walk all over buying whatever frags you want? or does everyone who brings frags only sell to those who reserved them via these posts??

I noticed a lot of ppl using posts for selling their frags for the meeting so just wondering if I'd be able to go there without any frags to offer and purchase some to start my tank? you said previously you don't have to become a member to go to meeting but if I found frags to purchase i would help support BRS by becoming one

how many ppl go to these meeting roughly? 20, 50, 100, 500, ??

The BRS meeting are open to anyone. You can come and go at anytime.
The frag swap is just people bringing corals for sale or trade. Most sales are prearranged, but some people bring extra stuff.
Anyone can buy frags at a meeting.
Most meetings have around 100+ people.
The cost of a membership is only $20. I've saved this many times over as a lot of the LFS give a 10% discount to paid members. This adds up quick. You can join at any meeting or online.
 
You can come for the frag swaps, but the presentations are pretty valuable. I've learned a ton from all the speakers we've had - whether the speaker was one of our own showing us tiups & tricks, or a guest speaker.
Education is one of the goals of the BRS. IMO, the presentations are worth more than a few frags.
 
Do I need to bring containers or bags or something to carry home the frags I get, or does the meeting have those for you? also, what time roughly do you think the actual frag swap will begin? I'm going to try to make it earlier but my wife wants to come and we have our 4 month daughter so who knows.

also, do you guys happen to have other stuff for sale from LFS or whoever is there... such as additives you guys recommend giving to certain corals or food to give them
 
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Do I need to bring containers or bags or something to carry home the frags I get, or does the meeting have those for you? also, what time roughly do you think the actual frag swap will begin? I'm going to try to make it earlier but my wife wants to come and we have our 4 month daughter so who knows.

also, do you guys happen to have other stuff for sale from LFS or whoever is there... such as additives you guys recommend giving to certain corals or food to give them

Most people bring a small cooler to put their purchases in. Cash is king. Don't worry about bringing the little one. This is a very friendly group and it would be great for you to make the speaker portion. So many neat things to learn even if you aren't necessarily interested in the subject of the speaker. There is a question and answer time at the end and then we have pizza before the raffle and frag swap. It is a great time to mill around and meet new folks.

For anything else that is for sale by club members, check out the market place. Folks also post group buys from time to time so keep checking back on the boards.

http://www.bostonreefers.org/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=15

Welcome.
 
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I'm really going to try to make it to the meeting, since I'm right in Methuen and I'm actually just setting up a large seahorse tank - it's perfect timing and location. Unfortunately, I have to be in Pittsfield sometime later that afternoon so it'd be cutting it close.

This would be my first meeting - do they usually start with the speaker at 11? I might be able to make it for Jorge's speech at least, if that's the case.

Thanks.
 
The schedule for the meeting should be posted soon. It usually allows for time for everyone to arrive, then there are announcements pertaining to club business. Then the speaker goes on.
 
Meeting schedule

11:00- new member registration

11:45 BRS Business announcements

12:00 Jorge's talk

1:00 Pizza

1:30 or so, frag swap, raffle
 
Wow I have always wanted horses but afraid. I am going to try and make the meeting to learn if I can handle it. This will be great.
 
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