TO SPAWN OR NOT TO SPAWN... In any good romance, timing is everything. Researchers at the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary hope that recent complications, an early August moon and a mysterious band of cold water won't put a damper on this year's coral spawning expected on August 15. First discovered in 1990 by a volunteer diver, the coral spawning occurs annually on the eighth day after the first August moon. Sanctuary staff heading out on the appropriately named M/V Fling will be looking for the same "menage a beaucoup" divers have seen for the last eight years. Observers in earlier years describe the still ocean waters suddenly awash in a white bloom of sperm and egg as an upside down snowstorm. During the coral spawning, scientists collect the infant corals or gametes as they float to the surface and transplant them in the laboratory, with the expectation that laboratory-raised coral reefs will someday repair damaged reefs. Scientists believe that the August moon and warmer waters trigger the annual spawning. This year's full moon came early in the month on the 7th, and waters may not be warm enough. Complicating the event is the sudden appearance of a mysterious band of cold water that is plaguing the northeast Gulf of Mexico and chilling waters along the Florida Panhandle. Just in case conditions are not conducive to romance this month, sanctuary staff plan to chaperone the coral reefs again in September. For more information call Justin Kenney at (301) 713-3140. CALENDAR OF EVENTS September 19 - October 9 Coast Weeks October 13 -16 APEC Ocean Conference, Honolulu, HI October 6 - November 10 Smithsonian Forum — The Ocean: Earth's Last Frontier November 16 - 19 Ocean Community Conference '98 - Annual meeting of the Marine Technology Society (MTS), Baltimore, Maryland

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