Overview

On Sunday, April 13th, 2025, SeaKeepers Director of Education & Outreach, Toni Lohroff, and Citizen Science Manager, Rosie Moore, participated as expert stakeholder judges for the Third Annual 2025 Miami Oceans Debates, an intercollegiate tournament focused on connecting college debate students with the skills to discuss real-world topics with policymakers, scientists, and beyond. This year, the proposition was "A 10-year moratorium on deep sea mining should be enforced." Accompanied by other local stakeholder experts from the Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science, and Lynn University, judges were able to oversee the semi-final and final rounds of the tournament and hear excellent points from both sides on the topic.

SeaKeepers was thrilled to be able to take part for the third year in this local event aimed at increasing the environmental and political literacy from South Florida and beyond. Given that, no matter where they live and learn, they are reliant on marine and coastal ecosystems, we hope that they can take these discussion skills and use them to advocate for marine ecosystems throughout their lives and careers.