Coral Gables, FL (June 5, 2008) – Twenty of the world’s 162 species of Grouper are endangered and two of the most threatened species are found off the coast of South Florida and the Caribbean where the fishing business is at its most prevalent. This is just one of the findings illustrated through the multi-media website fishatbay.com. The website was created in a class by University of Miami Visual Journalism and Journalism majors. The spring semester project tells the story of the decline of fishing stock around Biscayne Bay, FL through photographs, video, information graphics and a series of five in-depth stories that explain the risks Floridians face if there is no action and the fish are depleted from our waters. 

The site includes commentary by local business owners who rely on the catch to stay profitable such as Bill Bowers of long-standing Pinecrest area restaurant, Captain’s Tavern. Other video interviews feature environmental and land experts D. Scott Taylor, Ph.D., land manager for Brevard County, FL, and Sara Fain, program manager for the National Parks Conservation Assoc., among others.

UM School of Communication student writers, photographers and web designers teamed up to produce the website under difficult time constraints. “The best part of the class is that it brought together students from different disciplines and combined their talents to do good journalism in an interactive form,” said Sam Terilli, a member of the School’s journalism faculty who co-taught the course with visual journalism Professor Kim Grinfeder.

“It took a while to decide on a topic that would make an impact through both reporting and visual means like photography and video,” said Walyce Almeida, a senior at the School of Communication. “Researching this environmental issue that affects South Floridians and local businesses opened the doors to illustrate the crisis in a number of ways,” added Almeida who wrote, videotaped and edited segments on the site.

The students will submit the website to various multimedia and journalism competitions in an effort to raise awareness of this impending crisis.