University of Hawai'i University Relations Media & Publications Honolulu, HI 96822	(808) 956-8856 Telephone (808) 956-3441 Facsimile ur@hawaii.edu E-Mail
For Immediate Release:	Sept. 28, 1998
Contact: Cheryl Ernst, (808) 956-5941

University of Hawai'i presents Interior Secretary Babbitt an algae namesake from Midway Island Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt has been immortalized in a new species of red seaweed, compliments of a University of Hawai'i phycologist. While in Honolulu recently to sign a land transfer agreement, the secretary was presented with a framed, pressed sample of Dudresnaya babbittiana, whose graceful red fronds flow in the current in 60 feet of water off Frigate Point at Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge. UH Hilo Professor Karla McDermid discovered and described that seaweed, the first of seven new species to be discovered at Midway. McDermid named the new species for Babbitt because "it was on his watch that Midway became a refuge, open to the public and science." McDermid leads an intensive, two-week summer credit course to Midway, where students learn about atoll ecosystems-the only higher education course taught in the Northwest Hawaiian Islands. Some students return to Midway as interns or employees of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service or Midway Phoenix Corp., the business that provides transportation and manages the limited accommodations on the island. Midway, created from the same "hot spot" now forming the Big Island in Hawai'i and the underwater volcano Lo'ihi, has been carried with the Pacific Plate 1,500 miles to the northwest. Once the size of Lana'i, Midway now consists of three islets plus a characteristic limestone ring of reef. Midway Atoll provides nesting grounds for hundreds of thousands of albatrosses and 14 other species of seabirds, as well as habitat for monk seals, dolphins, sea turtles and dozens of species of fish. McDermid hopes to expand internship, volunteer and directed research opportunities for students at Midway.

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