2025-09-21T09:31:53-07:00 2024-12-31 990EZ 2024-01-01 464866535 BAHAMAS MARINE ECOCENTRE BAHA 3052380186 7201 SW 144 St Miami FL 33158 Ruth Pamela Reid President 3052380186 2025-09-06 1 2024 2025-03-06 01:10:19Z X X www.bahamas-marine-ecocentre.org X X 133710 X 133710 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 133710 46000 0 0 136267 22613 0 13777 218657 -84947 134701 0 49754 134701 49754 0 0 0 0 134701 49754 0 0 134701 49754 Research and Education: Bahamas Marine EcoCentre focuses on marine science education and research and promotes scientific and artistic activities that foster environmental stewardship. In 2024, activities were focused in three geographic areas: Bahamas, Western Australia, and Northern Chile, as outlined in Lines 28-30. Research on gypsum depositional system in lagoons in the Atacama Desert, which initiated as a consulting service in 2017, became a funded research project in 2018. Supported by the Chilean mining company, SQM, BME is investigating the role of microbes in sedimentation in the desert lagoon systems. Research and education activities in the Bahamas are based out of the Darby Island Research Station, Bahamas which is maintained and operated by Bahamas Marine EcoCentre. In 2024, we published one scientific papers related to our research in the Bahamas: (1) Reid, R.P. Suosaari, E.P., Oehlert, A.M. Pollier, C.G.L, Dupraz, C. 2024. Microbialite Accretion and Growth: Lessons from Shark Bay and the Bahamas. Annual Reviews of Marine Science, 16:487-511, https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-marine-021423-124637 and we submitted a second paper to the journal Chemical Geology (2) Kalderon-Asael, B., Wang, J., Planavsky, Oehlert, A.M., N.J., Vitek, B.E., Reid, R.P., Tarhan, L.J. 2025. Evaluation of early diagenetic signatures of lithium and stable strontium isotopes in shallow marine carbonate sediments. Costs for Bahamian program services were mainly associated with research station maintenance and travel. 0 27241 Our second geographic area of research was the Atacama Desertof northern Chile where we continued monitoring stromatolite growth in saline lagoons. This research involved two research fellows and a consultant. Program expenses pertain to field activities, sample analyses and writing reports and publications. One paper was submitted for publication in Plos One in 2024: Kong, T., Reid, R.P.; Suosaari, E.P., Maizel,D., Daza, L.R., Palma, A.T., Oehlert, A.M. 2025. Lake morphology and meteorological conditions impact stratification of saline lakes in the Atacama Desert. Our primary source of revenue, which comes from SQM Ltd, supported this research. Program service costs include payments to university laboratories for sample analysis and consulting services. 26000 169560 A third area of research activity was Western Australia,where we cont'd research into modern marine stromatolites in Shark Bay. This research involved one research fellow. The following invited review paper published in 2024 compares microbialites in Western Australia with those in the Bahamas: Reid, R.P. Suosaari, E.P., Oehlert, A.M. Pollier, C.G.L, Dupraz, C. 2024. Microbialite Accretion and Growth: Lessons from Shark Bay and the Bahamas. Annual Reviews of Marine Science, 16:487-511, https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-marine-021423-124637. Program expenses largely supported the research fellow. 20000 20000 216801 Ruth Pamela Reid President 10 0 0 0 Alexander Tecle Treasurer 1 0 0 0 Peter Ortner Director 1 0 0 0 Jamie Foster Secretary 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Ruth Pamela Reid 7201 SW 144 St Miami FL 33158 3052380186 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 NONE NONE 1 X 196159 199234 240607 425349 133710 1195059 242 264 232 0 0 738 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 196401 199498 240839 425349 133710 1195797 0 35000 50000 34985 35000 154985 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 35000 50000 34985 35000 154985 1040812 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 196401 199498 240839 425349 133710 1195797 0.87039 0.87406 0 0 X Form 990-EZ, Part I, Line 10 List of Grants paid: 1) Australia and Chile Research Projects Research Fellow Erica Suosaari, 6001 OCCOQUAN FOREST DR, MANASSAS, VA 20112-3020 ($40,000); 2) Chile Research Project Research Fellow Brooke Vitek 4600 Rickenbacker Cswy, Miami FL 33149 ($6000). Form 990-EZ, Part I, Line 16 Other expenses include office supplies and bank fees ($1131); field and lab supplies ($9,376); travel ($2,185); Information technology ($222.02) and erroneous expenses that were redeposited into the BME bank account in 2025 ($863). Note that Professional fees and other payments to independent contractors reported in Part 1, line 13 include payments to University of Miami, University of Tennessee, University of Utah, and Beta Analytic for sample analyses, including isotopic analyses, elemental analyses, mineralogy, grain size, and dating. $65,000 was paid to AP research for consulting fees. An extension was applied for and accepted. This filing falls within the granted extension.