As part of the Gulf of Mexico Summit, we had the opportunity to present our prototype report card. For the presentation of the prototype Gulf of Mexico report card, we assembled our six man report card team: Drs. Larry McKinney and Wes Tunnell from the Harte Research Institute, Texas A&M University, Drs. Mark Harwell and Jack Gentile, Harwell, Gentile & Associates, and Drs.

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Tim Carruthers has begun a new chapter in his career and life by moving from Maryland to Samoa on June 2011. Tim came with me from the University of Queensland to the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science (UMCES) in early 2002. We came to UMCES to set up the Integration and Application Network, which was conceived by the UMCES faculty in a 2000 strategic planning document.

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Melbourne, the second largest Australian city, straddles the Yarra River near the mouth where it joins Port Phillip Bay. The location of Melbourne's central business district is adjacent to the first waterfall (since removed) at the site of the Princes Bridge, built in 1888. The Port of Melbourne, Australia's busiest port, is located at the mouth of the Yarra River. Port Phillip Bay is a large bowl with a narrow opening into Bass Strait which separates Australia from Tasmania.

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Sydney, Australia's largest city, is built around Sydney Harbour. The original European visit to the area by Captain James Cook on the Endeavour was when he anchored just south of Sydney in Botany Bay in 1770. Cook named it Botany Bay in honor of his botanists on board, led by Sir Joseph Banks. Botany Bay is now where Sydney airport is located and is fairly industrialized.

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Brisbane, Australia's third largest city, straddles the Brisbane River and is adjacent to Moreton Bay. Brisbane and Brisbane River are named after Sir Thomas Brisbane, a Premier of New South Wales before Queensland was created. Moreton Bay was named by Captain James Cook as he sailed by in 1770. Cook named it Morton's Bay after Lord Morton, President of the Royal Society, but a subsequent misspelling, Moreton, became the standard. Story Bridge over the Brisbane River.

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The close relationship that Australian cities have with their waterways is due to several factors. The majority of Australia's population is along the coast as a result of proximity to shipping, moderate climates, availability of freshwater and lifestyle preferences. The waterways have been a source of water, food and transport since early European settlement and for the prior forty thousand years of indigenous peoples on the continent.

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A new scientific facility in Brisbane is the Ecosciences Precinct on the site of the old gaol (jail) which was known as Boggo Road. The facility is just across the Brisbane River from the University of Queensland, connected by the new Eleanor Schonell pedestrian, bicycle and bus bridge.

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At the invitation of Dr. Andy Longmore, Victoria Department of Primary Industries, Kate Moore and I traveled to Queenscliff on the Bellarine peninsula at the mouth of Port Phillip Bay. We stayed in a wonderful, cosy bed and breakfast in Queenscliff called the Athelstane House and worked in the Department of Primary Industries Queenscliff Centre with a variety of fisheries scientists.

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During a visit to Sydney, I stumbled upon an interesting climate exhibit in front of Customs House in Circular Quay. A British sculptor, Mark Coreth, created an ice sculpture in the form of a life size polar bear. Inside the bear was a skeleton model created from metal. The sculpture was placed outside, and although it was a rather chilly winter weekend, the ice slowly melted, revealing the skeleton underneath over several days.

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When I was at the University of Queensland, we had a very active group of researchers, science communicators, graduate and undergraduate students investigating seagrasses, mangroves, corals, macroalgae, phytoplankton, benthic microalgae, bacteria and viruses. We called ourselves the Marine Botany group, also known as 'Marbot'. While the Marine Botany group has dispersed and the logo and website have faded, the people who had this shared experience have been thriving in a diversity of pursuits.

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