Each year at the Regional Aquatics Workshop the presentations are judged to determine those that will make the Best of Raw list. Below are those that made the list from 2010 - current. 

Our partnership with RAW started at the 2012 Workshop. For those presentations where we have permission from 2012 to current you can click on the titles to take you to the published page with the video.

Best of RAW 2010

Best of RAW 2010 Titles and Presenters only
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• Aquarium Collection Sustainability- Planning for the Future.  Dennis Thoney, Vancouver Aquarium 

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• Initiation of a North Texas Unionid Mussel Conservation Program at the Dallas Aquarium.  Barrett L. Christie, Dallas Aquarium at Fair Park 

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• A New Aquarium for a New Age of Sustainability.  Chris Andrews, Ph.D.  Steinhart Aquarium, California Academy of Sciences. 

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• Do Not Eat Shark Fin Soup- Landry's Restaurants and WildAid Collaboration.  Jim Prappas, Landry's Downtown Aquarium. 

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• Dissolved Organic Carbon Testing in Seawater Using the UV254 Method.  Rich Ross, Steinhart Aquarium. 

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• Sound, Stress, and Seahorses.  Paul Anderson, Florida Aquarium. 

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• Care and Breeding of the Dwarf Cuttle, Sepia bandensis.  Rich Ross, Steinhart Aquarium. 

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• Vancouver Aquarium's Canadian Arctic – A Chilling Experience.  Dennis Thoney, Vancouver Aquarium. 

 

Best of RAW 2011

Best of RAW 2011 Titles and Presenters only 
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• Collection, Transport, and Shipping of the Portuguese Man-of-War, Physalia physalis, to an inland aquarium -James Clark, Shedd Aquarium 

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• Food First, Then Fish - Jim Prappas, Landry's Restaurants Inc 

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• Good Husbandry is Enrichment - Bryan McNeil, Seattle Aquarium 

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• Behavioral Modification in Large White Seabass (Atractoscion nobilis) to Facilitate Transfer 

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• Between Tanks - Chris Mirabal, California Science Center 

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• Building Guest Diving Experience Programs from the Ground Up - Mike Terrell, Florida Aquarium 

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• Closed System Culture of Abalone for Future Out Planting in a Public Aquarium - Aaron Hovis, Aquarium of the Pacific 

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• How to Select a Sustainable Aquarium Animal Supplier - Laura Simmons, Cairns Marine 

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• Marine Exotic Species Removal - Ashleigh Clews, National Aquarium  (DC) 

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• Efforts in Rockfish Conservation in Puget Sound - Dave Smith, Point Defiance Zoo and Tim Carpenter --Seattle Aquarium ​

Best of RAW 2012

Best of RAW 2012 (Videos require a membership on AnimalProfessional.com)
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• Jennie Janssen, Georgia Aquarium, CLOSED-SYSTEM OXYGEN CONSUMPTION AND SUPPLEMENTATION OF PACIFIC SEA NETTLES 

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• ​Allison L. Corwin, Disney's The Seas with Nemo and Friends, A YEAR IN THE LIFE OF SPOTTED EAGLE RAY PUPS 

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• Barrett Christie, Dallas Aquarium at Fair Park [Desert Pup Fish link] IMPERILED DESERT FISHES OF THE AMERICAN WEST AND NORTHERN MEXICO 

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• Brenda Melton, Steinhart Aquarium, ANIMAL ATTRACTION: WHAT'S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT? 

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• Ann Money, Oklahoma Aquarium, OUR GLOWING SEAS, THE MYSTERY OF UNDERWATER FLOURESCENCE 

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• Bob Snowden, Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium, FLORIDA CORAL RESCUE FROM THE NAVY'S TRUMAN MOLE PIER, KEY WEST, FL, NOVEMBER 2011 

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• Kevin Gaines, Coral Restoration Foundation, RESTORING CORAL REEFS THROUGH AZA PARTNERSHIPS 

 

• Scott Dowd, New England Aquarium, PROJECT PIABA: 20 YEARS STUDYING THE AQUARIUM FISH TRADE; NOW IS THE TIME OFR AQUARIUMS TO TAKE ACTION. 

Best of RAW 2013

Best of RAW 2013 (Videos available on AnimalProfessional.com) 
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• Manny Ezcurra and Paul Clarkson               Monterey Bay Aquarium    Monterey Bay Aquarium's Project White Shark at 10 Years Old (or How to Shoot Yourself in the Foot) 

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• Al Dove  Georgia Aquarium    Whale Shark Aggregations in Yucatan, Mexico 

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• Paula Carlson         Dallas World Aquarium    An Update on Sawfish in Aquaria: The Global Conservation Strategy 

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• Greg Barord                       City University of New York, Brooklyn College    500 Million Years on Earth and We Still Don't Know Jack: The Life of Nautilus 

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• Becca Gangler                   Ripley's Aquarium - Myrtle Beach    Ovariectomy of Sub-Adult Southern Rays (Dasyatis americana) to Prevent Reproduction and Future Reproductive Problems 

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• Krik Embree                       Central Campus Aquarium ScienceC entral Campus Revisited..What have We Done? 

  

Best of RAW 2014

Best of RAW 2014 (Videos available on AnimalProfessional.com) 
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• "Shark Ray Breeding"- Instructions Not Included- Dvornak et al; Newport Aquarium 

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• "From Egg to Bay: Adventure Aquarium's Horseshoe Crab Head-Start Program"- Ferroni; Adventure Aquarium 

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• "Determining the Life History and Spawning Cycle of the Grooved Brain Coral Diploria labyrinthiformis- Snowden; Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium 

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• "Attempted Treatments for Eimeria southwelli in Cownose Rays (Rhinoptera bonasus)"- Broadhurst; NC State University College of Veterinary Medicine 

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• "Degradation of Formalin- Evidence for Changes to Long-Term Formalin Treatment Protocols"- Knight et al; The Seas with Nemo and Friends 

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• "1985 Called- They Want Their Artemia Methods Back"- Rhyne; Roger Williams University             

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• "Rockfish Eye Surgery and New Techniques in Prosthetics"- Carpenter; Seattle Aquarium 

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• "Interview with a Vampire Squid: Advances in the Collection and Display of Deep-Sea Cephalopods"- Bitondo; Monterey Bay Aquarium 

Best of RAW 2015

Best of RAW 2015 (Videos available on AnimalProfessional.com) 
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• “Mini Aquariums Coast to Coast: Catch-and-Release Public Aquarium Model”- Knight and Banwait             

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• “Thinking Outside the Box Truck- Long Distance Transports for Elasmobranchs: Department of Transportation Compliance and LSS Logistics”- Bailey et al 

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• “Project Coral- Captive Broadcast Coral Reproductive Research at the Horniman Museum & Gardens"- Davis 

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• “Mating, Birth, Larval Development and Settlement of Bargibant's Pygmy Seahorse, Hippocampus bargibanti (Whitley, 1970), in Aquaria”- Wandell and Ross 

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• “Sketch It Up: An In-House Approach to Life Support System Design and Development”- Buster et al 

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• “A Submersible Hyperbaric Chamber for Decompression of "Twilight Zone" Fishes”- Wandell 

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• "Advancements in the Management of Sea Star Wasting Syndrome in Aquaria" Bishop 

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• "A Cuttlefish of a Different Color: Investigating the Body Patterning in Metasepia pfefferi"- Thomas and MacDonald 

Best of RAW 2016

Best of RAW 2016 (Videos available on AnimalProfessional.com) 
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• MacKenzie Bubel and Thomas Knowles - Smells like Ctene Spirit: Methods for culturing the Comb Jellies (Ctenophora)  Mnemiopsis spp, Pleurobracia bachei, and Bolinopsis infundibulum 

• Colby Johnson - A pilot study of the effect of gut loading live Artemia sp.  with probiotics on survival during the pelagic phase of juvenile Hippocampus erectus 

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• Josh Tellier - Double your Goodeids, Double your fun: Collaborating with Students to increase breeding efforts and promote Goodeid conservation 

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• Dr. Elsburgh O. Clarke III - Successful Treatment of Eimeria southwelli in a Cownose Ray (Rhinoptera bonasus) using oral copper wire particles 

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• Danielle Haulsee – Internal Acoustic Transceivers Reveal the Annual Social Network Patterns in a Coastal Predator 

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• Mark Dvornak - Shark ray breeding - What a difference 711 days makes! 

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• Dr. Rob Jones and Sam Gilchrist - Botox as a possible treatment for spinal problems in sand tiger sharks (Carcharias taurus) 

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• Chad L. Widmer – Globs in Globes: Thinking outside the kreisel 

  

Best of RAW 2017

Best of RAW 2017 (Videos available on AnimalProfessional.com) 
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• Barrett Christie: Effect of Supplemental Phosphorus and Organic Carbon on Nitrification during Cycling 

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• Rob Jones: Stress and its Effects on Fish (including Mycobacteria) 

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• Sandy Trautwein: Developing a Professional Team: Ideas from the Aquarium of the Pacific 

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• Andy Rhyne: Hormone Induced Spawning of the Atlantic Lookdown, Selene vomer 

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• Matt Wade: Hungry, Hungry Rhizostomes: Successful Rhizostome Culture Strategies at National Aquarium 

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• Jennie Janssen and Brian Nelson: The Cuboid Invasion – Part 1: Sweating the Small Stuff 

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• Mark Murray: Using Electricity to Bridge Temperate Sharks during Positive Reinforcement Training 

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• Katy Duke: Plastic Fantastic? Taking up the challenge of going #OneLess and Fires happen! … How prepared are you? 

Best of RAW 2018

Best of RAW 2018 (Videos available on AnimalProfessional.com) 
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• Developing Land-Based Coral Facilities to Stimulate Multiple Ex-Situ Broadcast Spawning Events Per Year for Reef Restoration/Craggs  

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• Utilizing 3D Printing as an Alternative Method to Compensate for Buoyancy Imbalance Issues with Chelonia mydas in Public Aquariums/Knott  

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• AC/DC - The Advantages of Converting to Direct Current Pumps/Bailey  

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• Sand Tiger (Carcharias taurus) Shark Plasma Testosterone and Semen Seasonality for In-Situ and Ex-Situ Sharks/Wyffels  

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• Blood in the Water/Schreiber  

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• Laboratory Results at Hobbyist Pricing: Optimizing Water Quality Testing for Accuracy and Efficiency/Emmet  

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• Rescue, Husbandry, and Disease Treatment of Atlantic Pillar Coral (Dendrogyra cylindrus)/O'Neil  

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• Determining In-Situ Habitat Use and Migration of Sand Tiger Sharks (Carcharias taurus) in the Western North Atlantic/Paxton and Fatzinger 

Best of RAW 2019

Best of RAW 2019 (Videos available on AnimalProfessional.com) 
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• Thinking Outside the Aquarium: Taking an interdisciplinary approach to animal husbandry- Lauren Harper 

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• Visualizing Sand Tiger Shark (Carcharias taurus) Space Use in Aquariums using ZooMonitor and ArcGIS- Nancy Pham 

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• Design and Testing of a Self-Contained, Wirelessly Monitored and Controlled, Automated LSS System for the Transport of Large Teleosts and Elasmobranchs- Kevin Curlee 

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• Not a Fluke! Eliminating Neobenedinia sp. From a Group of Wild Caught Pacific Fish in Quarantine- Rachel Moote 

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• Using novel behavior training to increase visitor impact- Michelle Benedict 

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• Duped by a Fish: Livebearing Adventures in Larval Rearing of the Black Brotula, Stygnobrotula latebricola - Allison Waltz-Hill and Jeremy Brodt 

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• Parthenogenesis in the epaulette shark Hemiscyllium ocellatum- Sarah Tempesta 

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• Chambering the Chambered Nautilus: Raising Nautilus pompilius hatchlings in pressure chambers- Ellen Umeda 

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• The Use of Visible Implant Elastomer (VIE) Tags in Jellyfish- Rachel Stein 

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• Accomplishments and Challenges for Rising Tide Conservation- Judy St. Leger 

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• Renovating a Two‐Decade‐Old Artificial Reef- Jessica Nishimoto

Best of RAW 2022

Best of RAW 2022 (Videos available on AnimalProfessional.com) 
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• A Sea Turtle Wetsuit as A Therapeutic for Buoyancy Issues: Aiyana Reissman


• Florida Coral Rescue: Tanya Ramseyer and Beth Firchau


• Behavioral and physiological metrics of sensory decline and welfare in senescent giant Pacific octopus: Meghan Holst


• On the use of statistical modeling in making data informed husbandry decisions R you ready!? Chad Widmer


• Culture of the Flower Hat Jelly: Matt Wade


• Don't Blow It Up! Improving Welfare Through Small-Scale, In-House Actions: Sheena Jones


• The Kraken Curriculum - A New Professional Development Tool: Jennie Janssen and Barrett Christie


• Partnering in Coral Restoration: Christopher Bennet Daughtry


• Thrash of the Titans: Stretcher Training Arapaima gigas: Evan Kinn


• Hilo's Story: Providing Intensive Neonatal Care to a Spotted Eagle Ray Pup: Amanda Vaughan

Best of RAW 2023

Best of RAW 2023 (Videos available on AnimalProfessional.com) 
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• My Little Paly: Friendship is Toxic | Adam Atlas


• Raising Rip: From Conception to a Year of Age for a Sand Tiger Shark (Carcharius taurus). | Stacia White


• Support Role of Zoos and Aquariums in Ex-Situ Head-Starting of Native Mussel Propagation for Restoration | Ben Minerich


• Saving the Night: Improving Animal Welfare by Decreasing Light Usage in an Aquarium | Leah Mauer


• Training Giant Manta Rays, Mobula birostris, for Collaborative Research and Conservation Efforts | Alyse Stitt


• The Journey to Today and Our Compass Heading to the Future | Beth Firchau


• Building an Egg Identification Catalog: Life Doesn't Have to be Like a Box of Chocolates | Kylie Lev


• Mote International Genebank. | Erinn Muller